Yemeni cuisine is entirely distinct from the more widely known Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

ern cuisines. Yemen

Yemen

The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

i cuisine also differs slightly from region to region.

Ingredients

Chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

 and lamb are eaten more often than beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...

, which is expensive. Fish

Fish (food)

Fish is a food consumed by many species, including humans. The word "fish" refers to both the animal and to the food prepared from it. Fish has been an important source of protein for humans throughout recorded history.-Terminology:...

 is also eaten, especially in the coastal areas. Cheese

Cheese

Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....

, butter

Butter

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...

, and other dairy product

Dairy product

Dairy products are generally defined as foods produced from cow's or domestic buffalo's milk. They are usually high-energy-yielding food products. A production plant for such processing is called a dairy or a dairy factory. Raw milk for processing comes mainly from cows, and, to a lesser extent,...

s are not very common in the Yemeni diet, but buttermilk

Buttermilk

Buttermilk refers to a number of dairy drinks. Originally, buttermilk was the liquid left behind after churning butter out of cream. It also refers to a range of fermented milk drinks, common in warm climates where unrefrigerated fresh milk otherwise sours quickly...

  is enjoyed almost daily in some villages where it is available. The most commonly used oils are vegetable oil for savory dishes, and clarified butter

Clarified butter

Clarified butter is milk fat rendered from butter to separate the milk solids and water from the butterfat. Typically, it is produced by melting butter and allowing the different components to separate by density...

 semn (سمن) in pastries

Pastry

Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."...

.

Spices

A spice mixture known as hawayij is employed in many Yemeni dishes. Hawayij includes aniseed, fennel seeds, ginger and cardamom.

Yemeni dishes

Some common Yemeni dishes include Aseed

Aseed

Aseed is a Yemeni delicacy. It is a fish meal, usually dried fish served with local cheese and a fresh salad of garlic and spring onions with meat and sauce. Typically it is smothered in gravy.Aseed is eaten particularly at lunchtime and during Ramadan....

, Bint AlSahn, Fahsa

Fahsa

Fahsa is a Yemeni stew. It is a stew made of lamb cutlets with lamb soup, spices and "holba", fenugreek after it’s cooked.-References:*-External links:*...

, Fattah, Fatoot

Fatoot

Fatoot is a generic term for Yemeni dishes based on shredded bread....

, Hareesh, Jachnun

Jachnun

Jachnun is a traditional Yemenite Jewish dish prepared from rolled dough which is baked on very low heat for about ten hours. The dough is rolled out thinly, brushed with shortening , and rolled up, similar to puff pastry. It turns a dark amber color and has a slightly sweet taste...

, Karees, Komroh, Manti, Mateet, Mutabbaq, Samak Mofa, Shafut, Shakshouka

Shakshouka

Shakshouka is a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, onions, often spiced with cumin. It is believed to have Algerian and Tunisian origins.-Etymology:...

, Thareed, and Zoam.

Saltah

Although each region has their own variation, Saltah

Saltah

Saltah is one of the main dishes widely eaten in Yemen and it is mainly served for lunch. Its base is either lamb, chicken, or beef. Other ingredients are added, but vary from household to household. Other ingredients include cooked rice, scrambled eggs, potatoes, hulbah , beans, chopped meat, and...

(سلتة) is considered the national dish

National dish

A national dish is a dish, food or a drink that is considered to represent a particular country, nation or region.A dish can become a national dish for a variety of reasons. It can be the national dish because it is a staple daily food for the majority of the population. It can also be the national...

. The base is a brown meat stew of Turkish

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 origin called maraq (مرق), a dollop of fenugreek

Fenugreek

Fenugreek is a plant in the family Fabaceae. Fenugreek is used both as a herb and as a spice . The leaves and sprouts are also eaten as vegetables...

 froth, and sahawiq

Skhug

Skhug also spelled zhug, is a hot sauce popular in Middle Eastern cuisine. Originally from Yemen, it's also popular in Israel.Skhug is made from fresh hot peppers seasoned with coriander, garlic and various spices. Skhug adom is made with red peppers and skhug yarok from green peppers...

(سحاوق) or sahowqa (a mixture of chillies, tomato

Tomato

The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...

es, garlic

Garlic

Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...

 and herb

Herb

Except in botanical usage, an herb is "any plant with leaves, seeds, or flowers used for flavoring, food, medicine, or perfume" or "a part of such a plant as used in cooking"...

s ground into a salsa

Salsa (sauce)

Salsa may refer to any type of sauce. In American English, it usually refers to the spicy, often tomato based, hot sauces typical of Mexican and Central American cuisine, particularly those used as dips. In British English, the word typically refers to salsa cruda, which is common in Mexican ,...

.) Rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

, potato

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...

es, scrambled eggs, and vegetables are common additions to Saltah. It is eaten with flat bread, which serves as a utensil to scoop up the food.

Yemeni bread varieties

Tawa, Tameez, Laxoox

Laxoox

Lahoh, also spelled laxoox in Somali, is a spongy, pancake-like bread originating in Djibouti, Somalia and Yemen. It is also popular in Israel, where it was introduced by Yemenite Jews who immigrated there. In Yemen, it is often sold on the street by peddlers.-Preparation:Lahoh is prepared from a...

, Malooga

Malooga

Malooga is a Yemeni flatbread eaten with bean dishes, scrambled eggs, spiced buttermilk, and many other Yemeni savory dishes.-Preparation:Malooga dough is made very much like pizza dough with water, yeast, salt, and flour. It is kneaded very well and set to rise for an hour. It is cut to large...

, Kader, Fateer, Kudam, Rashoosh, Oshar, Khamira
Flat bread is usually baked at home in a tandoor

Tandoor

A tandoor is a cylindrical clay oven used in cooking and baking. The tandoor is used for cooking in Azerbaijan, India, Turkey, Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Central Asia, as well as Burma and Bangladesh.The heat for a tandoor was...

 called taboon (تبون). Malooga

Malooga

Malooga is a Yemeni flatbread eaten with bean dishes, scrambled eggs, spiced buttermilk, and many other Yemeni savory dishes.-Preparation:Malooga dough is made very much like pizza dough with water, yeast, salt, and flour. It is kneaded very well and set to rise for an hour. It is cut to large...

, khubz

Khubz

Khubz, khoubz or khobz , an Arabic word for bread, but usually used by non-Arabic speakers to refer to a flatbread that forms a staple of the local diet in Arabic-speaking countries from the Arabian Peninsula to Morocco....

, and khamira are popular homemade breads. Store-bought pita

Pita

Pita or pitta is a round pocket bread widely consumed in many Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Balkan cuisines. It is prevalent in Greece, the Balkans the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula and Turkey. The "pocket" in pita bread is created by steam, which puffs up the dough...

 bread and roti

Roti

Roti is generally a South Asian bread made from stoneground wholemeal flour, traditionally known as atta flour, that originated and is consumed in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. It is also consumed in parts of the Southern Caribbean, particularly in Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and...

 (bread rolls like French bread) are also common.

Drinks

Milk tea

Milk tea

Milk tea may refer to* Tea with the addition of a small amount of milk*Bubble tea, one of famous categories of bubble teas is "pearl milk tea"...

 (after Qat

Qat

Qat may refer to:* Qat , of Oceania or Melanesia* Qat, or Khat, a tropical evergreen plant whose leaves are used as a stimulant...

), black tea

Black tea

Black tea is a variety of tea that is more oxidized than the oolong, green, and white varieties.All four varieties are made from leaves of the shrub Camellia sinensis. Black tea is generally stronger in flavor and contains more caffeine than the less oxidized teas. Two principal varieties of the...

 (with clove, cardamom or mint), Qishr

Qishr

Qishr is a Yemeni hot drink, made of spiced coffee husks, ginger, and sometimes cinnamon. In Yemen it is usually drunk instead of coffee, because it is cheaper....

 (coffee husks), Qahwa (coffee), Karkadin (dried karkadin flowers), Naqe'e Al Zabib

Naqe'e Al Zabib

-References:*...

 cold raisin drink and Diba'a squash nectar are examples of Yemeni drinks.

Although coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 and tea

Tea

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by adding cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant to hot water. The term also refers to the plant itself. After water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world...

 are consumed throughout Yemen, coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

 is the preferred drink in Sana'a

Sana'a

-Districts:*Al Wahdah District*As Sabain District*Assafi'yah District*At Tahrir District*Ath'thaorah District*Az'zal District*Bani Al Harith District*Ma'ain District*Old City District*Shu'aub District-Old City:...

 whereas black tea

Black tea

Black tea is a variety of tea that is more oxidized than the oolong, green, and white varieties.All four varieties are made from leaves of the shrub Camellia sinensis. Black tea is generally stronger in flavor and contains more caffeine than the less oxidized teas. Two principal varieties of the...

 is the beverage of choice in Aden

Aden

Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...

 and Hadhramaut

Hadhramaut

Hadhramaut, Hadhramout, Hadramawt or Ḥaḍramūt is the formerly independent Qu'aiti state and sultanate encompassing a historical region of the south Arabian Peninsula along the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, extending eastwards from Yemen to the borders of the Dhofar region of Oman...

. Tea is consumed along with breakfast, after lunch (occasionally with sweets and pastries), and along with dinner. Popular flavorings include clove

Clove

Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world...

s with cardamom

Cardamom

Cardamom refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds...

 and mint

Mentha

Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...

. A drink made from coffee husks called qishr

Qishr

Qishr is a Yemeni hot drink, made of spiced coffee husks, ginger, and sometimes cinnamon. In Yemen it is usually drunk instead of coffee, because it is cheaper....

is also enjoyed.