🍖 Iraqi Quzi
Quzi is a festive Iraqi dish of lamb slow-roasted until it falls off the bone, served over rice cooked with baharat and ghee. The rice is topped with fried onions, plump raisins and toasted almonds, giving a mix of savoury, sweet and nutty. It is brought to the table on a large platter for weddings, Eid and big gatherings.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg lamb shoulder
- 400 g basmati rice
- 50 g almonds
- 50 g raisins
- 2 onions, sliced
- 2 tbsp baharat
- 2 tbsp ghee
- Salt
Method
- Rub the lamb with 1 tbsp baharat and salt, cover and roast at 160 °C for about 3 hours until very tender.
- Soak the rice 20 minutes; fry one onion in 1 tbsp ghee, add rice, remaining baharat, salt and water to cover by 2 cm and cook covered until done.
- Fry the second onion in the remaining ghee until golden; add the raisins briefly.
- Toast the almonds in a dry pan.
- Spread rice on a platter, top with onion, raisins, almonds and the lamb.
How to make it lighter
- Use less ghee — 1 tbsp ghee ≈ 112 kcal.
- Halve the almonds and raisins; they are calorie-dense toppings.
- Serve a smaller rice portion with a large salad.
History
Quzi is a celebration dish across Iraq and the wider region, traditionally made with a whole lamb for large gatherings; home cooks today usually use a shoulder or leg.
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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 →