Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Skoudehkaris
Djibouti's national dish: spiced rice cooked with lamb, tomato, and cardamom in one pot.
Djiboutian · medium · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 55 min
~578 cal · 35g protein · 63g carbs · 20g fat · 3g fiber · 4g sugars · 9g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Skoudehkaris is often called the national dish of Djibouti, a fragrant one-pot rice cooked with lamb (or beef), tomato, onion, and warm spices like and cumin, reflecting the country's position at the crossroads of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is aromatic, gently spiced, and satisfying.
The dish shows clear kinship with the spiced rices of the Horn of Africa and the Arab world, absorbing centuries of trade and migration through the busy port of Djibouti City. The rice cooks in the meaty, tomato-rich broth until every grain is flavored.
Comforting and communal, skoudehkaris is served for family meals and gatherings, often from a shared platter. It captures Djibouti's blended identity, African, Arab, and maritime, in a single fragrant, one-pot meal.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg-, nut- 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
1.5 lb lamb, cubed
2 cups basmati rice, soaked
3 tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 onion
4 cloves garlic
1 green chili
1 tsp
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 stick cinnamon
Instructions
1
Brown the lamb with the onion and garlic (for the vegan version, set the chickpeas aside for now).
2
Add the tomato, tomato paste, chili, and spices and cook down to a thick, fragrant base.
3
Pour in 3.5 cups water (add the chickpeas and carrots now for the vegan version) and simmer until the meat is nearly tender.
4
Stir in the drained rice, cover, and steam on low for 18 to 20 minutes, until the rice is fluffy and the liquid absorbed.
✎ Chef’s note
Get the liquid-to-rice ratio right and keep the lid on the whole time, so the rice steams evenly and stays separate.
5
Rest 5 minutes off the heat, then fluff and serve with a fresh chili-tomato relish.
Djibouti City tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Djibouti City. Djibouti City is a Red Sea port scented with cardamom and cumin, where skudahkharis simmers rice with goat and warm spice. Its cooking bridges Somali, Afar, Yemeni, and French habits, in flatbreads, samosas, and strong spiced tea.
🗺️
Djibouti. Djiboutian cuisine blends Somali, Afar, Yemeni, and French influences, spiced rice (skoudehkaris), grilled meats, and the fermented flatbread lahoh. Cardamom, chili, and Red Sea trade flavor the table.
🌍
Africa. The structure repeats across most of the continent: one starch and one sauce. A grain or root is cooked stiff, torn or rolled by hand, and used to carry a stew of leaves, groundnut, okra or fish, usually from a shared bowl and with the right hand. UNESCO listings have followed that logic, inscribing couscous in 2020 as a shared Maghreb tradition and Ivorian attieke in 2024.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Djibouti
LahohA soft, honeycombed fermented pancake eaten with ghee and honey or a spicy stew in Djibouti.
Fah-FahA fiery, aromatic goat and vegetable soup brightened with green chili and lime, Djibouti's favorite restorative lunch.
Djiboutian Banana FrittersLight little fritters of mashed ripe banana and flour scented with nutmeg, fried and dusted with sugar, a Djibouti favourite.
Browse all Djibouti recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Steamer.
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 Djibouti meal
Shaah bil CaanoDrink
Djiboutian Banana FrittersDessert
Fah-FahLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Skoudehkaris?
Djibouti's national dish: spiced rice cooked with lamb, tomato, and cardamom in one pot.
Where does Skoudehkaris come from?
Skoudehkaris is a Djiboutian dish from Djibouti City, Djibouti.
Can Skoudehkaris be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Skoudehkaris 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 Skoudehkaris 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 Skoudehkaris take to make?
About 75 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 55 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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