🍢 SNACK
Nakhi (Kuwaiti Spiced Boiled Chickpeas)
Chickpeas simmered soft with whole green chilies, cumin and salt, served warm in their broth with lemon juice, more cumin and a pinch of chili, and warm bread.
Kuwaiti · easy · serves 6
prep 10 min · cook 120 min · plus 12 h hands-off time
~248 cal · 13g protein · 42g carbs · 4g fat · 9g fiber · 8g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Nakhi is Kuwait's bowl of chickpeas: simply chickpeas boiled until soft with salt, cumin and hot chili, spooned out warm with some of their cooking liquid and finished at the table with lemon, cumin and red pepper. It is cheap, filling and nourishing, and it is eaten with warm bread, often beside its partner bajella, boiled fava beans.
In Kuwait nakhi belongs to the small takeaway shops that the Iranian community opened in the 1950s near the neighbourhood co-ops, some of them still selling the same short menu decades later. There are no tables: customers leave with their nakhi in small plastic tubs, or bring their own pot from home.
Demand for it triples in Ramadan, when families pick up a tub for the evening meal rather than cook after a day of fasting. It is also a breakfast dish, and at home it is served with fresh tomato and cucumber, pickles and olives.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- 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
- 2 cups (about 400 g) dried chickpeas
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2.5 litres water
- 2 tsp salt
- 3 whole green or red hot chilies
- 1 tsp ground cumin, plus extra to serve
- 2 lemons lemon juice
- a pinch ground red pepper (chili powder)
Instructions
- 1Cover the chickpeas with plenty of cold water, stir in the baking soda and soak for at least 12 hours, changing the water once. Drain and rinse well.✎ Chef’s noteThe baking soda helps the chickpeas soften fully and cook to the melting texture nakhi should have.
- 2Bring the water to a boil in a large pot, add the chickpeas, salt, whole chilies and cumin, and skim off any foam.
- 3Simmer, partly covered, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the chickpeas are very soft and crush easily between your fingers. Top up with hot water if the level drops below the chickpeas.
- 4Taste the broth for salt. Ladle the chickpeas into bowls with a little of their broth and a chili, squeeze over lemon juice and dust with cumin and red pepper. Serve warm, with warm bread (use a gluten-free one if you avoid gluten).
Kuwaiti takeaway-shop tradition, from the Iranian-Kuwaiti community.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Kuwait City. Harees is the Ramadan fixture, wheat and meat cooked down for hours and beaten until they become one smooth thing, and it turns up across the Gulf under the same name. The saffron and rosewater in the rice and the sweets are the visible half of centuries of Persian and Indian trade through this port.
🗺️
Kuwait. Harees is the Ramadan dish, wheat and meat cooked down and beaten until they become one texture, and it appears across the Gulf rather than in Kuwait alone. Before oil, this was a pearling and trading port whose boats ran to India and East Africa, and the cardamom, saffron, rice and dried lime in the pantry all arrived that way.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Kuwait
MurabyanSpiced Gulf shrimp folded through rice cooked in their fragrant broth, layered with dill and dried lime.
KhameerSoft, lightly sweet date-and-cardamom yeast breads, griddled and eaten with cream or cheese.
Mutabbaq SamakSpiced fish served over caramelized-onion rice with dried lime, a classic Kuwaiti and Gulf seafood dish.
Browse all Kuwait recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Kuwait meal
Chai Zafran (Kuwaiti Saffron and Cardamom Tea)Drink
Gers OgailyDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Nakhi (Kuwaiti Spiced Boiled Chickpeas)?
Chickpeas simmered soft with whole green chilies, cumin and salt, served warm in their broth with lemon juice, more cumin and a pinch of chili, and warm bread.
Where does Nakhi (Kuwaiti Spiced Boiled Chickpeas) come from?
Nakhi (Kuwaiti Spiced Boiled Chickpeas) is a Kuwaiti dish from Kuwait City, Kuwait.
Can Nakhi (Kuwaiti Spiced Boiled Chickpeas) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Nakhi (Kuwaiti Spiced Boiled Chickpeas) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Nakhi (Kuwaiti Spiced Boiled Chickpeas) 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Nakhi (Kuwaiti Spiced Boiled Chickpeas) take to make?
About 14 h 10 min in all: 10 minutes prep and 120 minutes cooking, plus 12 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 6.
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