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Harees
Also known as هريس · hareesa · harees porridge · wheat and lamb porridge
Wheat and chicken pounded together until they become one smooth, stretchy porridge, finished with ghee. Savoury, mild, deeply comforting.
Typical serving
480 kcal
usually 370–610 kcal
 Protein | 24 g |
|---|---|
 Carbs | 56 g |
 Fat | 18 g |
Reference figures for a dish as it is commonly cooked — never a measurement of your plate. The range is the honest part: two kitchens make this differently. In the app, a photograph replaces the guess.
Before you start
- soak the wheat overnight — it is the difference between three hours on the hob and five
- a heavy pot and a wooden spoon you do not mind leaning on
Ingredients
Serves 4 · dimmer marks are storecupboard
- 250gcracked or hulled wheat
- 550gchicken thighs — bone-in — the bones are what make it taste of anything
- 4 tspghee
- 1cinnamon stick
- to tastesalt
Method
6 steps
soak · 8 hours walk awayWheat under plenty of cold water, overnight. It roughly doubles, so use a bigger bowl than looks necessary.
boil · 10mDrained wheat, chicken, cinnamon and water three fingers above it all, brought up and skimmed of the grey foam.
simmer · 2h 30m walk awayLid ajar on the lowest heat, stirred and topped up with hot water whenever it looks tight. It is done when the chicken shreds at a touch and the wheat has lost its edges.
chop · 8mLift the chicken out and strip every scrap off the bones, discarding skin and bone. Check by hand — a small bone in harees is the one thing that ruins it.
fold · 20mMeat back in, and now beat it. Twenty minutes with a wooden spoon against the side of the pot until there is no grain and no thread of chicken left to see. This is the dish, and it takes longer than the cooking.
finish · 2mSalt, then hot ghee poured over the top so it pools, with a dusting of cinnamon.
Worth knowing
Cooked in huge shared pots through Ramadan across the Gulf; the pounding, done properly, takes longer than the cooking.
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