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Gulf Arab

Balaleet

Contains egg (no meat or fish)

بلاليط · balālīṭ

A Gulf breakfast of thin vermicelli cooked with butter, sugar, saffron and cardamom, served under a thin savoury omelette for a sweet-and-salty contrast.

Balaleet is a Gulf Arab pasta dish, ready in about 25 minutes and made with dried pasta, sugar and egg. It serves 3 and is rated easy to cook.

Start cooking
A serving of Balaleet
Photo: Mohamed Toorani / Wikimedia Commons · CC-BY-SA-4.0
Prep
5 min
Cook
20 min
Total
25 min
Serves
3
Level
Easy
Calories
477

Ingredients

3 servings

Omelette

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Toast the broken vermicelli in the butter (opens in a new tab) in a saucepan (opens in a new tab) until lightly golden.

  2. Step 2

    Add the water and salt, boil until just tender, then drain well and return to the pan.

    • 6 min
    • high heat

  3. Step 3

    Stir in the sugar (opens in a new tab), cardamom (opens in a new tab), saffron (opens in a new tab) with its water and rose water (opens in a new tab). Cover and cook on the lowest heat until glossy and fragrant.

    • 5 min
    • low heat

  4. Step 4

    Beat the eggs (opens in a new tab) with a pinch of salt and cook in the buttered frying pan as a thin, flat omelette. Serve the vermicelli in bowls with the omelette laid on top.

    Food safety: Cook the omelette until fully set for young children or anyone vulnerable.

    Eggs being whisked in a bowl
    How it looks · Photo: Kampus Production on Pexels

About this dish

Origin
Not attributed to one place · Commonly attributedA traditional breakfast across the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.Also popular in United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia
Dish
Breakfast · Brunch · Pasta · Egg dishes
Cooking method
Boiled, Pan-fried
Taste
sweet & savoury, aromatic / warmly spiced, buttery
Diet
Vegetarian (lacto-ovo) · No nut ingredients
All labelsVegetarian (lacto-ovo) · Eggetarian · Pescatarian · Flexitarian-friendly · No nut ingredients · Alcohol-free · Pork-free · Beef-free · Calorie-conscious
Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
Good for
Budget-friendly · Child-friendly
Cook more with
Dried pasta · Sugar · Egg · Butter · Cardamom · Saffron
Techniques
Pan-frying · Boiling

Allergens

  • Contains: Milkfrom butter
  • Contains: Eggsfrom dried pasta, egg
  • Contains: Wheatfrom dried pasta
  • Contains: Glutenfrom dried pasta

Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

Nutrition

477 kcal per serving

Calculated

1 serving ≈ 215 g · recipe makes 3

Where the energy comes from

  • Protein 13%
  • Carbohydrate 59%
  • Fat 28%
Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
NutrientPer servingPer 100 g*
Energy477 kcal221 kcal
Protein15.1 g7 g
Carbohydrate70.4 g32.7 g
Net carbohydrate68.2 g31.6 g
Sugars21.9 g10.2 g
Added sugars20 g9.3 g
Fibre2.2 g1 g
Fat14.7 g6.8 g
Saturated fat7.4 g3.4 g
Trans fat——
Cholesterol210 mg97 mg
Sodium394 mg183 mg
Salt equivalent1 g0.5 g
Vitamins & minerals per serving
Potassium
225 mg
Calcium
53 mg
Iron
3.1 mg
Magnesium
44 mg
Vitamin A (RAE)
156 µg
Vitamin C
0 mg
Vitamin D
1 µg
Vitamin B12
0.5 µg
Folate (DFE)
285 µg

How these numbers were made

  • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
  • *Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
  • Optional ingredients are not included: rose water.
  • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
  • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

Good to know

Serve with

  • With karak chai or cardamom tea.

Storage

  • Best freshly made.

Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

Recipe DNA

How this dish is built

Built from the recipe’s own sections. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

What the dish is built around

Main ingredient

Used in step 1

Reviews & corrections

Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

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