Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Madrouba
A soft, porridge-like rice and chicken dish beaten smooth with spices and dried lime, comforting Qatari Ramadan fare.
Qatari · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 75 min
~983 cal · 58g protein · 111g carbs · 35g fat · 13g fiber · 8g sugars · 18g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Madrouba, meaning beaten, is a comforting Qatari and Gulf dish whose name describes how it is made: the rice and meat are cooked until very soft and then beaten or mashed together into a thick, porridge-like consistency. It is especially cherished during Ramadan for being gentle and easy to eat.
Rice is slow-cooked with chicken (or sometimes fish), warm spices, and the essential dried black lime until everything breaks down, then mashed with a little milk or butter into a smooth, savoury porridge. Soothing, aromatic, and nourishing, it is the sort of dish made for the young, the elderly, and anyone in need of comfort, a quiet staple of the Gulf table.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally 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 1/2 lb chicken pieces
2 cups jerish (coarsely cracked wheat), soaked overnight
Hard to find? coarse bulgur - the same cracked wheat but parcooked, so it collapses sooner; add it later in the simmer
1 cup basmati rice, soaked
3 dried black lime (loomi), pulp only
1 tbsp bzar or baharat spice blend
1 tbsp ground turmeric
1 tbsp each ginger and garlic, minced to a paste
1 onion, finely chopped
4 tomatoes, pureed
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 whole dried red chili
1/2 cup milk or butter (to finish)
Instructions
1
Fry the onion and the whole dried chili in oil until golden, then add the chicken with the dried-lime pulp and the ginger and garlic pastes.
✎ Chef’s note
Use the pulp of the black limes, not the whole fruit: scrape out the seeds and peel. Black loomi is more flavourful than the pale kind, and madrouba is dark enough not to mind the colour.
2
Stir in the bzar, turmeric, tomato paste, and pureed tomatoes, and cook until the chicken is tender, then lift it out and shred the meat off the bones.
3
Add the drained jerish and rice with about 2 quarts of water, return the shredded chicken, and simmer covered for 1 1/2 hours, stirring now and then and topping up if it dries out.
4
Beat or mash the rice and chicken together with the milk into a thick, smooth porridge.
✎ Chef’s note
Cook the rice well past done and then beat it hard; madrouba should be smooth and porridge-like, not distinct grains.
5
Season well and serve warm.
Qatari Ramadan tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Doha. Harees is Gulf-wide rather than Qatari, and the iftar table here usually leads with it and with thareed, bread soaked through with a meat and vegetable stew. Madrouba, balaleet, luqaimat and khanfaroush fill out the same table, which is a Ramadan repertoire more than a national cuisine.
🗺️
Qatar. Qatari food centers on machboos and slow-cooked harees, reflecting Bedouin and Gulf-trade roots. Dates, dried lime, saffron, and lavish shared platters define a hospitable desert 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 Qatar
HareesWheat berries and meat pounded together over long cooking into a smooth, comforting porridge.
KhanfarooshLittle saffron-and-cardamom cakes, crisp outside and soft within, fried and dusted with sugar.
Assidat al-BoubarA warm pumpkin pudding of toasted flour, date syrup, and cardamom, a warming Qatari Ramadan sweet.
Browse all Qatar recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Thickens as it sits. Reheat with extra water or milk to loosen, and keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated.
Make it a Qatar meal
Sharbat LoomiDrink
Assidat al-BoubarDessert
Qatari MachboosDinner
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Madrouba?
A soft, porridge-like rice and chicken dish beaten smooth with spices and dried lime, comforting Qatari Ramadan fare.
Where does Madrouba come from?
Madrouba is a Qatari dish from Doha, Qatar.
Can Madrouba be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Madrouba 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 Madrouba 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 Madrouba take to make?
About 90 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 75 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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