Qatari Lasagne: Thareed

Thareed is one of the most popular dishes in Qatar and it’s often made during Ramadan. The dish is a combination of vegetables (such as carrots, potatoes, and beans), meat, and a sauce. This specific recipe uses lamb meat, but you can make it with chicken or simply vegetables if you prefer that. Additionally, the recipe uses bread in the dish. Traditionally Tannour bread has been used, but nowadays it’s also common to use tortilla bread.

Now, if like me you’re wondering that this sounds more like a stew – where does the “lasagne” part come in? Well, the bread is not used as something on the side while eating thareed. Instead, the bread is layered at the bottom of the dish and soaked with the stew, making the bread soft and full of flavour. It seems that the layering is what gives the dish its unofficial “lasagne” name.

How did it go?

First of all – please try not to get intimidated by the number of ingredients listed in the recipe. Most of them are different veggies and spices and each one compliments the dish perfectly. Fair warning, though – the preparation will take quite some time. Unless you can get nicely cut up veggies from somewhere, take the time it takes to do all this manually into consideration. It’s all entirely worth it, though! Additionally, you can either buy the bread listed in the recipe (if you can get it locally) or make one yourself. I chose latter – check out the Khubz recipe here.

Since I made it during a quarantine, I did not have a possibility to go to a market and buy lamb meat from there. I got my lamb from the general store and I’m not 100% sure it was the correct “piece” of the lamb (there was literally only one option). Nevertheless, it gave the stew some really nice flavour. From my dish, I left out the black lemon powder (loomi aswad), because I simply did not find it from the stores here. I also left out the fresh coriander – just because I REALLY can’t stand the taste.

Overall? I highly recommend trying thareed – there were SO many flavours when taking each bite and, honestly, it was delicious!

Have you tried some version of the recipe? Did you make anything differently? How did you like it? Let me know down in the comments!

P.S. If you’re interested, check out my post about Qatar, as well as other recipes I tried:

• Qatari Bread: Khubz
• Qatari Sweet Dumplings: Luqaimat
• Qatari Sweet Bread with Cream: Esh Asaraya

Note: in the “Around the World” challenges, I try to find the most authentic recipes available. I will not make adjustments myself, other than converting the measurements and possibly giving some additional tips in the steps. This way, you’ll get the same traditional experience when trying yourself! 🙂

Qatari Lasagne: Thareed

Yield: 8 servings

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes

In addition to usual stew incredients, this "lasagne" includes also layered bread that is soaked with the sauce of the stew. Mm, delicious!

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Ingredients

• 1 kg lamb stew meat
• 1,5 litres of water
• 300 g of finely chopped onions
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp of corn oil
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 large potatoes, each potato quartered
• 4 small kousa (zucchini), each piece cut into pieces
• 1 large carrot, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 large capsicum, cubes
• 4 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 2 pieces of whole black dried lemons
• 1-3 pieces of green chili
• 3 cubes of Maggi bullion
• 1 tablespoon of Arabic spice mix
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon black lemon powder (loomi aswad)
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon cardamom powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon red Kashmiri chili powder (or cayenne pepper)
• 5 large piece of Raqaq bread (or 2-3 pieces of khubz or makook)
• some coriander leaves, finely chopped

Instructions

1. In a large pot, boil the lamb meat removing the foam when it starts to boil. Boil for 1 hour.
2. Strain and reserve the broth.
3. In a large pot, heat the oil and sauté the onions until they get a nice golden brown colour. Don't burn the onions! Add the garlic and stir until fragrant.
4. Add the tomato paste and all of the vegetables, except the kousa. Mix together to coat the vegetables with the tomato paste.
5. Rinse the two whole dried lemons and then pierce each one once with a sharp knife.
6. Add the lamb meat, reserved broth, Maggi bullion cubes, and the remaining ingredients, EXCEPT for the kousa and the chopped coriander leaves.
7. Add more water if necessary to make this stew a bit soupy. Taste for seasoning.
8. Bring the stew to a boil and then let it simmer until the potatoes are almost done. You can now add the kousa and the chopped cilantro. Cook until the kousa is fork-tender.
9. Remove the meat and vegetables from the pot and keep aside on a large platter.
10. In a large deep-sided bowl, add one layer of Raqaq bread (or whichever bread you are using).
11. Add another layer of bread and ladle some more liquid.
12. Each layer of bread will be soaking with the liquid from the stew. None of the bread should be left dry.
13. Now, add the meat and veggies, as well as the remaining liquid.
14. Enjoy!

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 546Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 148mgSodium: 616mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 6gSugar: 7gProtein: 52g

Did you try this recipe?

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