Quzi, Maqluba and Tashreeb: Iraqi Rice Dishes Explained

Rice in Iraqi cooking is rarely a side. It's the structure the dish is built on, and the three most important versions are built in completely different ways.

If you're ordering for a table and don't know which to choose, this is the difference.

Quzi — the celebration dish

Lamb slow-cooked for hours until it separates from the bone, served over spiced rice with fried almonds and raisins scattered across the top.

How it's built: the lamb and the rice are cooked separately, then brought together at the end. The rice is spiced with cinnamon, cardamom and bay; the lamb carries its own broth into it.

When to order it: when there are people to feed. Quzi is a centrepiece — it arrives and the table stops talking for a moment. At the largest scale it's a whole lamb over rice, which is what most Iraqi weddings in Dubai actually serve.

Maqluba — the one that gets turned over

The name means "upside down", and that's literally the method. Meat, fried aubergine, potato and rice are layered into a pot, cooked, then the whole pot is inverted onto a tray so the dish arrives as a standing cake.

How it's built: layering is everything. The bottom layer — which becomes the top — is arranged for appearance, because it's the first thing anyone sees.

When to order it: when you want something communal but lighter than quzi. Maqluba is pan-Arab rather than strictly Iraqi, which makes it a good entry point.

Tashreeb — the oldest of the three

Bread torn into a wide bowl, then covered with broth and meat until the bread collapses into it.

How it's built: it isn't rice at all, strictly — the bread does the work rice does elsewhere. That's what makes it the oldest technique of the three, and the most distinctly Iraqi. It's also a fixture of the Iraqi breakfast table.

When to order it: at breakfast, or when you want the comfort dish rather than the celebration one. Kurdish tashreeb, lamb tashreeb and tashreeb with okra are all different enough to be worth trying separately.

Which to choose

Ordering these in Dubai

All three are on the menu at Kabab Erbil in Deira and Sharjah. Quzi is available as a main daily; the whole-lamb version for events needs advance notice. See the full menu or, for a broader look at the cuisine, our guide to Iraqi food in Dubai.

Deira: 10 Al Muraqqabat Street · +971 4 272 0843
Sharjah: Al Taawun Street · +971 6 565 8255

For gatherings, see catering.

Further reading: Wikipedia — Maqluba · Wikipedia — Tharid.