Guides
Quzi vs Ouzi: Are They the Same Dish?
Kabab Erbil · September 28, 2026
Kabab Erbil · September 28, 2026
No. Iraqi quzi (قوزي) is lamb slow-cooked until tender and served over spiced rice with nuts and raisins. Ouzi (أوزي), as cooked in the Levant, is rice, peas and meat wrapped in dough and baked into a parcel. The names are close and often confused — Kabab Erbil serves both, so you can order them side by side.
The names are a letter apart, both dishes are built on rice and meat, and both turn up at celebrations. English spellings make it worse: quzi is also written qoozi, ghoozi and kouzi, which drifts very close to ouzi. Even within Iraq the word moves around — in Mosul, Gulf News notes, quzi can mean a chunk of lamb cooked in spicy tomato sauce.
Lamb cooked slowly until it falls from the bone, served on rice spiced and dressed with nuts and raisins. It is the centrepiece of Iraqi hospitality, and at its largest it is a whole lamb on a tray for a gathering. Our quzi lamb plate serves one or two. There is more on our quzi on its own page.
Rice, peas and meat, wrapped in dough and baked, so it arrives as a golden parcel that is cut open at the table. Our Ouzi Sham — "Levantine ouzi" — comes in chicken or beef.
| Quzi (Iraqi) | Ouzi Sham (Levantine) | |
|---|---|---|
| Meat | Lamb | Chicken or beef |
| Rice | Spiced rice with nuts and raisins, lamb on top | Rice with peas, inside the parcel |
| How it is cooked | Lamb slow-cooked until tender | Wrapped in dough and baked |
| How it arrives | Open plate, meat over rice | A baked parcel, cut at the table |
| Price | AED 88 | AED 84 (chicken) · AED 88 (beef) |
For lamb and the dish Iraqis serve guests, quzi. If you prefer chicken or beef, or like the theatre of a parcel opened at the table, ouzi. A table of four can share one of each. For a gathering, the whole-lamb version of quzi comes as a tray for family events.
Ouzi is the name used in Levantine and Gulf kitchens. Iraqis say quzi, and mean a different dish.
Our quzi lamb plate serves one or two people.
No — maqluba is cooked in a pot and turned upside down to serve. Both appear in our guide to Iraqi rice dishes.
Yes — order quzi lamb for delivery across Dubai and Sharjah. For more Iraqi dishes to order, see Gulf News' pick of six Iraqi dishes.