Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Emirati Salona
A tangy Emirati stew of meat or fish and vegetables in a spiced tomato-and-dried-lime broth.
Emirati · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 55 min
~580 cal · 47g protein · 32g carbs · 29g fat · 6g fiber · 9g sugars · 13g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Salona is a beloved everyday stew of the United Arab Emirates, meat, fish, or chicken simmered with vegetables in a tangy, spiced tomato broth sharpened with dried lime ('loomi') and a warm baharat spice blend. Comforting and homey, it is a staple of the Emirati family table.
The dish leans on the Gulf's love of the sour, smoky note of dried lime, balanced against tomato and gentle spice. Versions vary with the season and catch, from fish salona on the coast to meat and vegetable versions inland.
Served with rice or bread across the UAE, salona is tangy, everyday food.
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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 4
1.5 lb lamb, chicken, or fish
3 tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 potato
2 carrot
1 zucchini
2 dried lime (loomi)
1 tbsp bezar spice mix
1 onion
4 cloves garlic
3 green chilies, slit
1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1, 1 and 1 , cinnamon stick and bay leaf (for the )
to taste salt
a handful fresh coriander, chopped
Instructions
1
Simmer the meat in water with the whole cardamom, cinnamon, bay and a dried lime for 30 minutes, skimming the foam, then lift it out and strain the stock. Fry the onion golden, then the garlic, ginger and chilies.
✎ Chef’s note
Making the stock separately and skimming it is what keeps salona clean-tasting. The strained broth then carries the whole dish.
2
Add the tomato, tomato paste, bezar, and pierced dried limes.
3
Pour in water and simmer until the meat is nearly tender.
4
Add the vegetables and cook until soft and the broth is tangy.
5
Season and serve with white rice.
Dubai tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Dubai. Harees takes patience and a stick. Wheat and meat are cooked together for hours and beaten with a wooden medrab until they collapse into one smooth paste, then finished with ghee. It is Ramadan food, and it sits on Abu Dhabi's register of intangible heritage.
🗺️
United Arab Emirates. Emirati cuisine reflects desert and sea, spiced rice with meat or fish (machboos), slow-cooked harees, and dates. Bedouin traditions and Indian Ocean trade meet over cardamom, saffron, and dried lime.
🌍
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
BalaleetSweet saffron-and-cardamom vermicelli topped with a thin savory omelette, the Gulf’s sweet-and-savory breakfast.
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: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a United Arab Emirates meal
Karak ChaiDrink
LuqaimatDessert
Emirati HareesLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Emirati Salona?
A tangy Emirati stew of meat or fish and vegetables in a spiced tomato-and-dried-lime broth.
Where does Emirati Salona come from?
Emirati Salona is a Emirati dish from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Can Emirati Salona be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Emirati Salona 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 Emirati Salona 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 Emirati Salona take to make?
About 75 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 55 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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