Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Ghoozi
Spiced rice crowned with tender roasted lamb, fried nuts, and raisins, a grand Bahraini and Gulf celebration platter.
Bahraini · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 150 min
~1200 cal · 71g protein · 130g carbs · 42g fat · 4g fiber · 15g sugars · 18g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Ghoozi (also quzi) is a magnificent celebration dish across Bahrain and the Gulf, a great platter of spiced rice topped with slow-roasted lamb, brought out for weddings, Eid, and important gatherings. It is a dish built for sharing and for making an impression.
Lamb, often a whole leg or shoulder, is marinated in warm spices and roasted or steamed until it falls from the bone. It is set atop a mountain of fragrant, spiced basmati rice that has been cooked with and studded with raisins, then showered with fried onions, nuts, and sometimes slices of boiled egg. Rich, aromatic, and generous, it is the centrepiece of a Bahraini feast.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
3 lb leg or shoulder of lamb
4 cups basmati rice
3 tbsp warm spice blend (baharat) and
3/4 cup mixed nuts, fried
1/2 cup raisins
3 eggs, boiled (optional garnish)
3 onions, fried
Instructions
1
Rub the lamb with the spice blend and roast or steam slowly until falling-apart tender.
2
Cook the rice with saffron and spices until fluffy, then fold through the raisins.
✎ Chef’s note
Cook the lamb long and low until it pulls apart at a touch; a firm roast undermines the whole generous, celebratory point of ghoozi.
3
Fry the nuts and onions until golden.
4
Mound the rice on a platter, top with the lamb, and shower with fried nuts, onions, and boiled egg.
Bahraini and Gulf celebration tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Manama. Manama is sweet on machboos and on muhammar, rice cooked with dates or sugar and saffron and served against salted fish. Bahraini cooking reflects Gulf trade in cardamom, rosewater, dried lime, and the pearl-diving history of the islands.
🗺️
Bahrain. Bahraini cuisine reflects Gulf pearl-diving and trade, machboos spiced rice, fresh fish, and the sweet muhammar rice. Dates, dried lime, and Persian and Indian influences define the island's table.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bahrain
MuhammarBahrain's sweet brown rice scented with date syrup, saffron, and cardamom, traditionally served with fried fish.
ChebabSaffron-and-cardamom pancakes tinted gold, served with cheese or date syrup, a Gulf breakfast.
RanginakDates stuffed with walnuts under a blanket of toasted spiced flour and cinnamon, a rich Bahraini and Gulf sweet.
Browse all Bahrain recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven, Steamer, Blender.
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Bahrain meal
RanginakDessert
Bahraini Hammour with DaqqusDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Ghoozi?
Spiced rice crowned with tender roasted lamb, fried nuts, and raisins, a grand Bahraini and Gulf celebration platter.
Where does Ghoozi come from?
Ghoozi is a Bahraini dish from Manama, Bahrain.
Can Ghoozi be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Ghoozi recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Ghoozi safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Ghoozi take to make?
About 180 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 150 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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