Recipe

Asia → 🇾🇪 Yemen → Sana’a
Saltah
Yemeni · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 40 min
~450 cal · 32g protein · 17g carbs · 27g fat (estimated, per serving)
🍽️
Bubbling stew topped with pale fenugreek froth and green relish
🇾🇪 Sana’a
Saltah arrives at the table still volcanically boiling in its stone pot, capped with hulba — fenugreek whipped to a pale froth — and streaked with the green chili relish sahawiq. Eaten by tearing flatbread and scooping, it’s Sana’a lunch in its purest form.
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Ingredients
Serves 4 —
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1 lb lamb or beef, small dice
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3 tbsp fenugreek seeds, soaked overnight then whipped (hulba)
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3 tomatoes
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1 potato
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1 onion
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2 tbsp bzaar/hawaij spice (cumin, coriander, cardamom, turmeric)
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1 bunch cilantro
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3 green chilies
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3 cloves garlic (for sahawiq)
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1 tomato (for sahawiq)
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4 flatbread, to scoop
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3 tbsp neutral oil
Instructions
1
Whip the soaked fenugreek seeds with a little cold water until pale, light, and frothy — this is hulba. Set aside.
2
Blitz the cilantro, chilies, garlic, and a tomato into a rough green sahawiq.
3
Brown the meat (or mushrooms and potato) with the onion and hawaij; add chopped tomatoes and potato with water to cover, and simmer 30 minutes into a thick stew — ideally in a stone pot.
4
Bring it to a hard boil at the very end; spoon the hulba froth over the surface and streak in the sahawiq.
5
Serve immediately, still bubbling, with flatbread torn for scooping.
Sana’a lunch tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Sana’a. Highland kitchens famous for a stew that arrives boiling.
🗺️
Yemen. Clay-oven breads and bubbling stone-pot stews.
🌍
Asia. From street-cart woks to slow monastery kitchens.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩‍🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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