5 Traditional Foods That Everyone Should Try in Doha - Savour the mouth-watering tastes of the Gulf city

raditionally served on a communal platter, machboos brings friends and families together, where everyone gathers around the large platter and enjoys the meal by hand. Machboos — also known as majboos or kabsa — is an Arab mixed rice dish heavily influenced by the famous biryani of Indian cuisine. The long-grain rice dish has its origin in Saudi Arabia but is widely popular and considered a national dish in all the countries of the Arabian Peninsula, including Qatar. Machboos can be made with camel meat, lamb, chicken, fish, or even shrimps, truffles, or duck meat, but chicken is the most popular choice.

Enjoyed both as a porridge and a gruel, harees is a boiled, cracked, or coarsely-ground wheat dish mixed with meat. Similar to the aforementioned machboos, harees — also known as jareesh, boko boko, or harisa — also has its roots deeply embedded in Saudi Arabia but is enjoyed throughout the entire Middle East, especially during the festive season of Ramadan where it is a well-favoured staple. Harees has risen in popularity over time, so much so that a few different regional varieties to the dish, employing authentic local ingredients, have emerged.

One of the most versatile dishes of Arabian cuisine, saloona is a traditional stew enjoyed as an everyday home-cooked meal, usually made with whatever the ingredients available at home. For those who don't consume saloona much often, it is a staple that comes to life around Ramadan. Although it is quite versatile, saloona does have a traditional set of ingredients that goes into the making of the dish, including tomato, onions, garlic, ginger, a few different varieties of vegetables and chicken, beef, lamb, or fish as the meat ingredient.

Combining an interesting flavour of sweet and savoury in a single dish, balaleet is a popular breakfast choice in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, including Qatar. The classic delicacy consists of cardamom, vermicelli sweetened with sugar, rose water and saffron, and is served with diced potato, a sprinkling of sautéed onions and an overlying egg omelette. Come the month of Ramadan, the traditional breakfast is also served for dinner.

Sate your sweet tooth with a bite of lokma or two, a deep fried, sweetened dough ball with its roots deeply embedded in Greece but is a well-favoured delicacy in Qatar and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula. The sugar-packed delight is enjoyed both as a street food and a dessert and is served at all cafes and restaurants in Doha, Qatar, including the likes offered by Al Najada Doha Hotel by Tivoli.