Vegetarian trigger warning ⚠️
This is the site in almost every neighborhood (next to the juice shops) – juicy, sizzling chicken slowly roasting on spittles or splayed out on grills. When we want a quick, cheap, tasty meal, this is our go-to. Saudi is so good at chicken that it almost makes up for the fact that they ban pork (at least that’s what I tell myself at Saturday brunch when I’m crunching on my flavorless beef bacon).
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There are two main types of chicken we order at these walk-up establishments: shawaya or fahem. They differ in the spice marinades used and the shawaya is rotisseried while the fahem is barbecued on a charcoal grill. They’re both smoky and delicious. They’re also small. I could eat a whole chicken by myself on some occasions. But that’s how you know they’re legit and not pumped with unnatural hormones, right?
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My husband has the ordering process in Arabic down pat now – it only took two years. 😅 You walk up to the window, tell them how many chickens you want and yellow or white rice, then they box it all up. This culture is all about giving you mounds of rice – we don’t even come close to finishing one order of rice as a family, even though it’s a step up from regular rice because they mix in raisins and pine nuts. 😋 Included in our bag of food is always spicy salsa (perfect on the rice), pickled vegetables, lime halves, and arugula. The only thing they’re missing is grilled plantains a la Cameroonian style.
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If you haven’t already noticed, the Saudi diet is very heavy on rice and meat. We stop by these places only once a week bc we need more vegetables on the regular. But it’s hard to beat a meal that is ready in 5 minutes and feeds the whole family for $8. 🍗
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