Balaleet
Photo: Droodkin · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

Balaleet is a traditional dish of Eastern Arabian cuisine, made of vermicelli sweetened with sugar and flavoured with cardamom, rose water and saffron, then covered with an egg omelette. It is a popular breakfast and is frequently served on Eid al-Fitr as the first meal of the day. Accounts of Emirati cuisine link its arrival to the traders who brought pasta to the Gulf. Meylas serves it at AED 35 on its 2026 menu.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Eggs

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 25 minTotal 35 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 200g fine vermicelli, broken into short pieces
  • 2 tablespoons ghee or butter
  • 500ml water
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • Half teaspoon ground cardamom
  • A large pinch of saffron soaked in 2 tablespoons hot water
  • 1 tablespoon rose water
  • 4 eggs
  • Pinch of salt

Method

  1. Fry the vermicelli in the ghee over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes until golden brown, stirring constantly.
  2. Add the water, sugar, cardamom and saffron water. Bring to the boil, then cover and cook on low for 8 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.
  3. Stir in the rose water and fluff with a fork. Pile onto a plate.
  4. Beat the eggs with the salt and cook as one thin omelette in a lightly oiled pan.
  5. Lay the omelette over the vermicelli and serve hot.

Tip from the editors. Brown the noodles evenly before adding water, and keep the omelette thin so it drapes over the sweet vermicelli.

Where to eat balaleet

Balaleet in Abu Dhabi

Meylas ★ 4.2

$ EmiratiAl Raha

Meylas is a Michelin Selected Emirati restaurant at Al Muneera, Abu Dhabi, begun as a food truck by Shaikha Al Kaabi and grown into an all-day eatery.

OrderThe machboos at AED 56 and the saffron balaleet at AED 35, both priced in tbreak's 2026 guide.

TipMichelin lists Meylas among Abu Dhabi's best breakfast spots; it opens at 08:30, and the chefs cook in an on-view kitchen.

Directions

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Balaleet in Dubai

Arabian Tea House ★ 4.3

$$ EmiratiAl Fahidi

Arabian Tea House has poured karak chai and served Emirati breakfasts since 1997 in a courtyard house built in the early 1920s in Al Fahidi, Dubai.

DrinkKarak chai

TipAsk for a courtyard table under the big tree; the Emirati breakfast tray comes with khameer and chebab baked in the house tanoor.

Directions

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