Highland Comfort Food · Smooth Wheat Dumpling
Aseeda
Photo: Qusai Akoud from khartoum, Sudan / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
The name comes from the Arabic root for twisting or stirring, after the constant working that turns flour and water into a smooth dough.
Wheat or sorghum flour is stirred into boiling water and worked until it turns into a smooth, stretchy dough, then shaped into a mound with a hollow at the center for melted ghee and honey. Highland towns across Asir serve it as a communal dish, eaten by hand straight from the shared plate.
Why it's made this way: Asir's cooler mountain climate and centuries-old terraced grain farming made wheat and sorghum staples in a way rice never was locally, keeping this highland dish distinct from the rice-forward cooking of the rest of Saudi Arabia.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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