Heritage
What Is Iraqi Tashreeb? Seven Kinds, Explained
Kabab Erbil · September 27, 2026
Kabab Erbil · September 27, 2026
Tashreeb (تشريب) means "soaking": Iraqi bread torn into a deep bowl and soaked with hot broth, then topped with whatever was cooked in it — lamb, chicken, okra or fava beans. It is how Iraq still eats the old Arab thareed. Kabab Erbil serves seven kinds of tashreeb, every day, at both branches.
It comes from the Arabic verb sharraba, to make something drink. The bread is made to drink the broth — that is the whole dish. Iraqis use the word for the method as much as for any single recipe, which is why there are so many kinds.
It is its direct descendant. Thareed is bread broken into pieces and softened with broth, often with meat — The National describes it as perhaps the best-known dish connected to the Prophet Mohammed. Tharid is still eaten across the Arab world under several names; in Iraq, it is tashreeb. The idea is older still: Baghdad's cooks have been eating stews with bread for thousands of years.
All seven are available every day at both branches, and each is made differently — in method, ingredients and taste.
| Tashreeb | What is in the bowl | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Lamb tashreeb | Bread soaked in slow-cooked lamb broth | AED 88 |
| Lamb with okra tashreeb | Lamb and okra stew over bread | AED 88 |
| Chicken tashreeb | Chicken and its broth over bread | AED 83 |
| Kurdish chicken tashreeb | The Kurdish version | AED 88 |
| Special Erbil tashreeb | Made with chickpeas | AED 88 |
| Tashreeb bajila | Bread soaked in slow-cooked fava-bean broth — a breakfast dish | AED 60 |
| Tashreeb shawarma | — | AED 88 |
Bajila sits on the breakfast menu, next to the rest of an Iraqi morning table.
Hot broth, soft bread and slow-cooked meat in one bowl: it is filling, warming and made from what an Iraqi kitchen always has. Iraqi winters are colder than visitors expect, and tashreeb is what families cook when they are. In Dubai it is ordered all year, but it is at its best on the cooler nights from November.
With a spoon, from the bottom up, while it is hot. The meat sits on top; the bread underneath has taken the broth and should be soft but still hold together. Leave it too long and it collapses — which is why tashreeb is better eaten at the table than after a long drive.
Fatteh, the Levantine cousin, layers toasted or fried bread with chickpeas and yoghurt, and the crunch is part of the point. Tashreeb has no yoghurt and no crunch: the bread is meant to be soft all the way through. Tashreeb is also a main course, where fatteh is often breakfast or a side. There is more on how Iraqi rice and bread dishes fit together in quzi, maqluba and tashreeb.
Yes — all seven kinds, at Al Muraqqabat in Deira and Al Taawun in Sharjah.
Lamb tashreeb is the classic. If you want something heartier, the lamb with okra; for breakfast, bajila.
Yes — order lamb tashreeb online. Eat it as soon as it arrives.