🍗 Chicken hamsa
Chicken hamsa is a quick, homely pan dish: pieces of chicken stir-cooked over high heat with onion, garlic, tomato, cumin and chili until the sauce clings thickly to the meat. Hamsa means roughly “stirring” or “searing”, and the dish is cooked fast in one pan. It is scooped up with warm khubz flatbread straight from the pan.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 700 g boneless chicken thighs or breast, cubed
- 2 onions, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 4 tomatoes, chopped
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1–2 fresh green chilies, chopped
- 2 tbsp oil, salt and pepper
- Khubz (Arabic flatbread) to serve
Method
- Heat the oil in a wide pan and soften the onion for 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken and sear over high heat, stirring, until browned.
- Add the garlic, chili and cumin and cook 1 minute.
- Add the tomatoes and salt and cook, stirring often, for 12–15 minutes until the chicken is done and the sauce is thick.
- Serve hot with khubz.
How to make it lighter
- Use chicken breast and 1 tbsp of oil for a leaner pan.
- Eat it with one piece of bread and a salad instead of several loaves.
- Add extra tomato and peppers to bulk up the pan without many extra calories.
History
Hamsa is everyday home cooking in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, eaten as a quick lunch or supper with flatbread.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →