COPPERBahraini harees recipe
Whole wheat and meat are simmered for hours then beaten by hand until not a single grain or fibre is left, giving a smooth savoury paste finished with melted ghee.
Ingredients
- 250 g whole wheat grains
- 500 g bone-in lamb
- 2000 ml water
- 100 g ghee
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
How to make Bahraini harees
- Soak 250 g of whole wheat grains, never flour, in cold water for at least 12 hours, then drain.
- Put the wheat in a heavy pot with 500 g of bone-in lamb and 2 L of water, bring to the boil and skim the foam.
- Cover and cook on the lowest heat for at least 3 hours, until a grain crushes flat between two fingers.
- Pull out the bones, then beat the mass with a wooden pestle or a heavy whisk for 15 to 20 minutes without stopping, until no grain and no meat fibre can be seen. This beating, not the cooking, is what makes harees; skip it and you have wheat soup.
- Add 1 tsp of salt and beat over low heat for 10 more minutes, adding a little hot water if it stiffens.
- Spread in a shallow dish, hollow the centre, pour over 100 g of melted ghee and dust with cinnamon.
What is Bahraini harees?
Bahraini harees is a traditional dish from Bahrain, boiled, and takes about 15 hours and 40 minutes from start to finish. It is built around bone-in lamb, whole wheat grains and ghee. The recipe below uses 6 ingredients and is written out step by step.
How long does Bahraini harees take?
At 940 minutes it is slower than 92% of the 586 dishes in Copper's atlas. Copper's atlas has 2 dishes built on bone-in lamb. The method runs to 6 steps, the longest being 20 minutes.
Any tips for making Bahraini harees?
Beat the cooked wheat and lamb with a pestle without stopping until no grain or fibre shows: the beating, not the cooking, is what makes harees.
How Bahraini harees compares
Hard to find elsewhere: whole wheat grains (1) and bone-in lamb (2).
Copper documents Bahrain alongside 197 other countries. Every recipe is free to read, with the full ingredient list and every step.