Eid Al Adha is Islam’s most sacred holiday, and will be celebrated this Wednesday in Morocco.

Eid Al-Adha Dishes Across The Muslim World

Rabat – Eid Al Adha is Islam’s most sacred holiday, and will be celebrated this Wednesday in Morocco.

As is customary, Muslims households are to slaughter a sheep, goat, or cow for the occasion.

This often leads to an excessive amount of available meat, despite having to donate a third to those in need.

MWN would like to remind its readers of the ample dish options you can try this holiday. We selected the most popular Eid dishes around the muslim world.

Moroccan Boulfaf

To make boulfaf, seared and seasoned beef liver or sheep liver (kebda) is cut into cubes and wrapped with thin, lacy strips of caul fat which, once cooked, adds a delicious crispy texture and flavor.

The liver is the first thing cooked. It is cut into cubes, seasoned, wrapped in the caul fat of the sheep stomach and then grilled over charcoal. The heart is cooked the same way.

It’s this wrapping of the caul fat around the liver that led to the name of the dish, and it’s what distinguishes boulfaf from everyday grilled liver.

These two items are always the first thing on the Eid lunch menu table in Morocco.

You can access the full recipe here.

Morocco’s Mechoui

This dish is so simple to make– even if you’re not an experienced cook. The only thing it takes is to season the meat and then slow cook it in the oven. This dish is often made on the second day of Eid.

Tender cuts of meat such as beef or lamb shoulder or leg of lamb are preferred, and large sections of rack of lamb work fine as well.

You can also use the same base recipe to cook a m’hammar of chicken, but you’ll need to adjust the cooking time.

Although not much effort is required to make Moroccan Mechoui, you do need time—time to marinate the meat, time to braise it, and time to oven-roast it for browning.

You can acess the recipe here.

Egyptian Fattah

The Egyptian Fattah is a classic. You can find this dish during all the big occasions, such as weddings and other celebrations– which also includes Eid Al Adha.

Egyptian Fattah contains all ingredients in one dish: meat, rice, bread, and tomatoes. The Egyptian dish is known to other Arab countries as the fattah with the red sauce, due to the existence of a white sauce fattah like the Lebanese fattah.

The Lebanese fattah is covered with a delicious tangy sauce that is made of yogurt, tahini (sesame paste), lime juice, and garlic.

To make Fattah you’ll need:

For the meat:
– 1 Tablespoon ghee/unsalted butter.
– 2-3 mastic pieces.
– 2 pounds beef/lamb cut into 2-inch squares. See notes below for best cuts.
– 2 bay leaves.
– 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom.
– 1/4 teaspoon sugar.
– 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
– 1 medium onion quartered.
– 1 (100g) Roma tomato quartered.
– 2 (70g )celery stalks, cubes almost half a cup.
– 1 garlic clove.
– 1 large (60g) carrot cut into chunks.
– Boiling water to cover.
– 1 teaspoon salt I’ve used pink salt.

For the rice:
1 Tablespoon ghee or unsalted butter.
1 Tablespoon olive oil.
2 cups (400g) short grain or jasmine rice.
2 1/4 cup hot water/beef broth or a mixture.
Salt to taste.

For the sauces:
1 Tablespoon ghee/unsalted butter.
1 Tablespoon olive oil.
5 large garlic cloves minced.
1/4 cup white vinegar.
2 cups tomato sauce.
2 Tablespoons tomato paste.
1 teaspoon 7-spice blend.
Salt and pepper to taste.
3 cups beef/lamb broth divided.
6 Pita bread loaves. more or less depending on your liking. cut into 1 inch squares.

Preparation

In a deep pot melt butter or ghee over medium-high heat, add mastic, and stir until mastic pieces are melted.

Add meat cubes and brown all over. Add the bay leaves, sugar, black pepper and cardamom, stir to combine.

Add onion, garlic, tomato, celery, and carrots. Mix everything well together. Pour in hot boiling water to cover.

Remove any foam rising at the surface.

Bring the pot to a boil, reduce heat. Cover the pot loosely and let simmer until done. Add salt in the last 5 minutes of cooking.

Strain broth and take the meat out with a slotted spoon and cover with plastic wrap as we will need them later.

In a pot over medium-high, add butter and oil. Wait for the butter to melt then add the rice.

Stir the rice for 2-3 minutes until it is all covered with the butter and oil mixture. Pour in water or broth, season with salt, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let it cook for 13-15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the pita bread into 1-inch squares, arrange in a baking sheet, and toast in a350F oven until edges are crispy and lightly browned.

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter and olive oil. Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds to 1 minute until the garlic is fragrant and lightly browned. Add the vinegar and let the mixture cook for 3-4 minutes. Reduce heat. Remove about half the garlic-vinegar mixture on a small bowl and set aside. Increase heat to medium again, pour tomato sauce, 7-spice blend, salt & pepper, and mix. Add the tomato paste and pour in one cup of broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes to thicken.

Make the white sauce by bringing two cups of broth to a boil in a saucepan. Add the garlic-vinegar mixture that we scooped out earlier. Season with salt and pepper then turn heat off. In a skillet over medium-high heat melt one tablespoon unsalted butter and add one tablespoon olive oil and brown the meat cubes from all sides. Cover the pan while browning the meat cubes so they do not get too dry.

Thareed Laham

This iconic dish is coming straight from the UAE, and it’s flatbread layered with lamb stew.

Often referred to as the Prophet Muhammad’s favorite dish, this satisfying lamb and vegetable stew is served over thin, cracker-like bread called regag to soak up the rich juices.

To make Thareed, you’ll need :

– 1 kg lamb stew meat

– 1 ½ liters of water (6 cups)

– 2 cups of finely chopped onions

– 3 cloves of garlic, minced

– 1 tablespoon of corn oil

– 1 tablespoon tomato paste

– 2 large potatoes, each potato quartered

– 4 small courgettes each piece cut into half

– 1 large carrot cut into 4 pieces

– 4 medium tomatoes, chopped

– 2 pieces of whole black dried lemons

– 1 to 3 pieces of green chili

– 3 cubes of Maggi

– 1 tablespoon of Arabic Bizar 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

– ½ teaspoon black pepper powder

– ¼ teaspoon red Kashmiri chili powder (or cayenne pepper)

– ¼ cup cilantro, finely chopped

– 5 large piece of Raqaq bread or 2-3 pieces of Khobuz Irani (or you can substitue Roti or Pita bread)

Preperation

In a large pot, boil the lamb meat removing the foam when it starts to boil. Boil for one hour.

Strain and reserve the broth. In a large pot, heat the oil and sauté the onions until they get a nice golden brown color. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant.

Add the tomato paste and all of the vegetables, except the courgette mix together to coat the vegetables with the tomato paste.

Rinse the two whole dried lemons and then pierce each one once with a sharp knife.

Add the lamb meat, reserved broth, Maggi cubes, and the remaining ingredients, except the koosa and the chopped cilantro.

Add more water if necessary to make this stew a bit soupy.

Bring to a boil and then simmer until the potatoes are almost done. You can now add the koosa (squash) and the chopped cilantro and cook until the koosa is fork tender.

Carefully remove the meat and vegetables from the pot and keep aside on a large platter.

In a large deep sided bowl, add one layer of Raqaq bread (or whichever bread you are using.Add another layer of bread and ladle some more liquid.

Each layer of bread will be soaking with the liquid from the stew. None of the bread should be left dry. Ladle the remaining liquid from the pot onto the bread. Now you arrange the vegetables and lamb meat over the soaked bread. You can garnish with a little bit more chopped cilantro if you wish.

Saudi Kabsa

Kabsa is a very popular Saudi dish that is really easy to make. Kabsa is a fragrant rice dish that can be made with chicken, lamb, or beef. During Eid, Kabsa is made using red meat from the sacrifice.

This one pot meal is very popular in the gulf area of the Arabian-peninsula. However, it originated in Saudi Arabia and is known as their national dish.

To make this dish, you need:

– 5 cups water or 1250 ml
– 1 kg lamb, or beef meat, cut into cubes.
– 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
– 2 medium onions or 300 g, cut into thin slices
– 2 medium tomatoes or 300 g, peeled and chopped
– 1 green chili pepper
– 2 teaspoons ground cumin
– 4 whole cardamom pods
– ¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
– 1 cinnamon stick
– 1 tablespoon tomato paste
– 2 cubes Chicken Stock
– 2½ cups basmati rice or 500 g

Preperation

Place water and meat cubes in a large pot, bring to boil and skim froth as it appears. Cover and simmer over low heat for 1 hour or until meat is tender.

In a medium size pot, heat vegetable oil and cook onions over medium heat for 5-6 minutes. Add tomatoes, chili pepper, cumin powder, cardamom powder, black pepper, cinnamon stick, tomato paste, Chicken Stock cubes and cook with constant stirring for 3-4 minutes.

Add the cooked meat with the stock to the pot, the stock should be around 3 cups or 750ml. Add more water if needed.

Cover with the rice, bring to boil and cook covered over low heat for 20 minutes or until the rice is cooked.

Turn the dish over a large serving dish and garnish with fried peeled almonds, raisins and pine seeds.

Jordanian Mansaf

The Jordanian mansaf is the Levantine country’s take on Eid dishes. It consist of lamb that is cooked in fermented dried yogurt and served with rice or bulgur. It is considered the national dish of Jordan, and can also be found in Palestine, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.

To make Mansaf, you need:

– 1 kg lamb shoulder meat cut in large slices
– 4 cups or 1 litre of water
– 2 tablespoons ghee or oil
– 2 medium or 300 g chopped onions
– 1 cube Chicken Stock
– ¾ teaspoon ground black pepper
– ¾ teaspoon sweet pepper
– ¾ teaspoon ground cumin
– ¾ teaspoon ground coriander
– ¾ teaspoon ground cloves
– 1 cinnamon stick
– 75 g or ½ cup toasted pine seeds
– 75 g or ½ cup toasted almonds
– 3 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped
– For the yoghurt sauce:
– 2½ cups yogurt or 625 g
– 1½ tablespoon corn flour