Emirati recipe
How to make Balaleet
بلاليط
The Gulf coast, a favourite for breakfast
Thin vermicelli noodles cooked with sugar, cardamom, rose water and saffron, served with a thin omelette laid over the top. The mix of sweet noodles and savoury egg is the whole point.
Ingredients
- 200 g thin vermicelli, broken into short pieces
- 2 tablespoons ghee or butter
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- A pinch of saffron soaked in 2 tablespoons warm water
- 1 teaspoon rose water
- 4 eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt and turmeric
- 1 tablespoon oil for the omelette
Method
- Cook the vermicelli in boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes, until just soft, and drain well.
- Melt the ghee in a pan, add the sugar and cardamom and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the vermicelli, the saffron water and the rose water, and toss over a low heat for 3 minutes.
- In a separate pan, heat the oil and cook the beaten eggs as a thin omelette until fully set, with no runny egg left.
- Put the sweet vermicelli on a plate and lay the omelette on top. Serve warm.
Made it at home? Tick it off and it goes into your kitchen passport.
Balaleet is often the first meal of the day at Eid al-Fitr, the festival that ends Ramadan.
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