Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Balaleet
Sweet saffron-and-cardamom vermicelli topped with a thin savory omelette, the Gulf’s sweet-and-savory breakfast.
Emirati · easy · serves 3
prep 10 min · cook 20 min
~535 cal · 15g protein · 82g carbs · 17g fat · 2g fiber · 24g sugars · 9g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Balaleet is a beloved Emirati breakfast that plays sweet against savory, sweet noodles fragrant with , , and , topped with a thin, unsweetened omelet. The contrast of the sugared, spiced noodles and the plain egg is the whole delightful point.
The dish reflects the Gulf's historic trade ties, with and spices arriving via Indian Ocean routes and becoming staples of Emirati home cooking. It bridges dessert and breakfast in a way characteristic of Gulf sweet-savory traditions.
Served for breakfast, at Ramadan, and on special occasions across the UAE, balaleet is nostalgic food.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and 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 3
8 oz (thin wheat noodles), broken
1/3 cup sugar
a pinch
1/2 tsp
a pinch black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp
3 tbsp butter or
3 eggs (for the omelette top)
optional dried rose petals, to garnish
Instructions
1
Sprinkle the saffron over the rosewater and leave it to bloom. Toast half the broken vermicelli in a little of the ghee until deep golden, then boil the rest in plenty of water until only just short of tender and drain it.
✎ Chef’s note
Toasting only half of it, and boiling the rest, is what gives balaleet its texture: some strands nutty and chewy, some soft. And stop the boiling early. Overcooked vermicelli collapses into paste once it goes back in the pan.
2
Melt the rest of the ghee in the pan, stir in the sugar, cardamom, salt and pepper and the saffron rosewater, and cook until the sugar dissolves. Return all the vermicelli and toss it through.
✎ Chef’s note
The sugar goes into the ghee, not into the cooking water. Simmering noodles in sugar syrup catches and scorches long before they are done.
3
Turn the heat to its lowest, wrap the lid in a cloth, cover the pan tightly and leave it 10 minutes, stirring once or twice.
✎ Chef’s note
The cloth catches the condensation that would otherwise drip back down and make the noodles wet.
4
Cook the eggs (or chickpea batter) into a thin, plain omelette.
5
Mound the sweet vermicelli and lay the omelette over the top. Garnish and eat, sweet and savory in every bite.
✎ Chef’s note
Balaleet is eaten across the Gulf, in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman as much as the Emirates, and it turns up constantly at iftar during Ramadan. Karak chai is the usual thing to drink with it. Some cooks scatter the omelette through the noodles in pieces rather than laying it over whole.
Emirati breakfast tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Dubai. Balaleet is shared across eastern Arabia rather than owned by any one city; Oman, Bahrain and Qatar all make it, and it is the traditional first food of Eid al-Fitr. The trick is that it really is both things at once, sweet vermicelli with cardamom, saffron and rose water under a plain savoury omelette.
🗺️
United Arab Emirates. Balaleet is the traditional first meal after Ramadan across the Gulf: sweet vermicelli with cardamom, saffron and rosewater, served under a thin savoury omelette, the sweet and the savoury on one plate. The pearl-diving economy that preceded oil is what put dried limes, rice and Indian spice into an otherwise sparse desert pantry.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from United Arab Emirates
Emirati SalonaA tangy Emirati stew of meat or fish and vegetables in a spiced tomato-and-dried-lime broth.
Emirati ThareedA spiced meat-and-vegetable stew ladled over thin crisp regag bread, a comforting Emirati dish, especially in Ramadan.
LuqaimatCrisp golden dumplings drenched in date syrup and scattered with sesame, the classic fried sweet of the Emirati Ramadan table.
Browse all United Arab Emirates recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a United Arab Emirates meal
Karak ChaiDrink
LuqaimatDessert
Similar dishes from around the world
Shakshuka bel HarissaTunisia
Ugandan RolexUganda
KhaginaAfghanistan
Antiguan Fried Dumplings with CheeseAntigua and Barbuda
Tortas FritasArgentina
Fry JacksBelize
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Balaleet?
Sweet saffron-and-cardamom vermicelli topped with a thin savory omelette, the Gulf’s sweet-and-savory breakfast.
Where does Balaleet come from?
Balaleet is a Emirati dish from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Can Balaleet be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Balaleet 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 Balaleet 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 Balaleet take to make?
About 30 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 3.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.