A FOOD TRADITION

Asiri Cuisine

Asiri cuisine comes from the mountainous Asir region in southwestern Saudi Arabia, where highland agriculture, Red Sea trade, and local tribal foodways meet. Sorghum, wheat, maize, dates, honey, clarified butter, vegetables, and locally available meat are recurring ingredients. Cooking commonly includes stone-ground grains, slow simmering, griddle cooking, and baking or steaming substantial grain preparations. Recognizable examples include areekah, a mashed bread-and-date preparation often enriched with butter; asseeda, a cooked grain or flour dish served in several forms; and fatir or local flatbreads served with stews and condiments. The tradition has affinities with Yemeni and Tihami cuisines without being reducible to either.

Catalogue preview Cuisine connections may be unreviewed. Regional comparisons include their food references and do not establish the ingredients of a particular meal.