There’s a Sudanese grilled meat dish that you dip in—
honey.
Let’s back up.
Bedouin tribes along the border of East Sudan and Egypt prepare a kind of shayya or grilled meat for special occasions. Sallat. Chunks of fatty lamb grilled over ripping hot, black basalt stones.
The first and only place I’ve ever tried it was at Rukn Al Salat, aka the ‘corner of Sallat.’
The surprising bit was not the meat cooked on stones. People do this around the world. The twist was in the condiment the owner brought out—honey.
It worked.
A colleague double swiped a meaty nub through the honey and then the spicy peanut dakwa. She claimed it worked even more.
Either way, it’s best to move the meat off the stones quickly because the lamb gets chewier as it continues to cook over stones.
Sudanese food is one of the most underrated foods in the world. But it’s easily in my top 5 cuisines, to the point where I actively crave it.
Compared to other Sudanese spots I’ve tried, Rukn Al Salat is perfect for a newbie to the cuisine. It’s hygienic, the owner is beyond hospitable and they get my favorite salatat aswad as close as possible to homemade.
Here’s the breakdown of what you should order in addition to the sallat:
→ Salatat aswad. I love my Levantine mutabal and Iranian kashk bademjan, but the only eggplant salad I’d elope with is this creamy Sudanese one with peanut butter and roasted eggplant. My eggplant-averse sister lapped it up too.
→ Agashe. Flattened strips of grilled meat rubbed with a peanut-chili spice powder. If you had to pick between sallat and agashe, go with agashe. Squeeze over lime and dip into dakwa (peanut-chilli sauce).
→ Tagliya with gurasa. Minced meat stew thickened with okra powder. Expect a touch of sliminess, but not in an off-putting way. Pair with yeasted wheat flour pancakes aka gurasa.
→ Karkade. The signature roselle drink of the Middle East. Sweet-tart. It’s on every Sudanese table for good reason.
Everything is served with generous bundles of aish baladi, the whole wheat version of pita made nuttier with a sprinkling of bran.
You know the drill. If you go, I want all the juicy details. But don’t let the meal end there.
If our consumption of food from a different culture ends at dessert, we haven’t truly digested what we were meant to.
Prayers for the nearly 8 million Sudanese displaced by a brutal conflict that’s been mostly invisible to the global eye, and a hope for increased international awareness of their ongoing humanitarian crisis,
Arva
Arva Saleem Ahmed
Founder and Chief Executive Muncher
Frying Pan Adventures
Published on: 5th August, 2024
Don’t miss our weekly food gossip, join our community here!
Arva Ahmed is the co-founder of Frying Pan Adventures, Dubai’s first food tour company, and a celebrated food explorer known for uncovering Dubai’s hidden culinary gems. Her expertise in the city’s diverse food scene has been featured in prominent publications such as CNN, Khaleej Times, BBC Travel, The Sun, The Independent and countless more. She also hosts Ditch the Silver on YouTube. Through her immersive tours and storytelling, Arva brings Dubai’s rich flavors and vibrant cultures to life.
