Yemeni Cuisine

Yemeni cuisine is distinct from the wider Middle Eastern cuisines, with regional variation; despite Yemen being an Arab country, its cooking traditions have been influenced more by Indian and Indonesian methods as a result of its maritime history. The generous offering of food to guests is one of the customs of Yemeni culture, and lunch, not dinner, is the main meal of the day. Many kitchens have a tandoor, also called a tannur, a round clay oven. Chicken, goat and lamb are the staple meats, eaten more often than beef, fish is also eaten, especially in the coastal areas, and tomatoes, onions and potatoes are staple vegetables. Dishes common at lunch include aseed, a cooked wheat-flour lump of dough, fahsa, a stew of lamb cutlets with lamb broth, haneeth, a slow-roasted lamb dish cooked in a tannour, kabsa, a mixed rice dish, and mandi, meat and rice cooked in a pit underground.