🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia
Daqoos
دقوس · daqqūs
The garlicky tomato salsa that no kabsa platter appears without — bright, gently hot, and there to cut the richness of the rice.
Serves 6
Photo to come
Ingredients
- 2 large Roma tomatoes
- 3 garlic cloves · 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp tomato paste
- ½ tsp salt · ⅓ tsp smoked paprika · ⅓ tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp brown sugar · 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tbsp water, to adjust
- Saudi-style heat (optional): ½ tsp chili flakes or 1 small green chili · ¼ tsp cumin
Method
- Blend the tomatoes with two of the garlic cloves until smooth — or pulse it chunky.
- Fry the remaining garlic in the oil for a minute, until fragrant and barely golden — never brown.
- Pour in the blended tomato and cook 2 minutes, until the raw smell lifts.
- Stir in the tomato paste, salt, paprika, pepper, sugar and any chili and cumin.
- Simmer to a pourable salsa, loosening with water a spoonful at a time.
- Finish with the lemon juice off the heat. Serve warm, room temperature or cold beside the rice. Better on day two.
The family table
Across the Gulf you cannot serve kabsa, machboos or mandi without daqoos on the table — it’s structural, not garnish. The Saudi style runs hotter, with chili and a whisper of cumin; Kuwaiti pots run milder and smoother, and many households blend it raw in summer. Burnt garlic is the one unforgivable sin.
Yumma
Middle Eastern home cooking, organized by country. Your family’s version is the one that counts.