From
“Deep in the Heart of Texas”
to the
“Pearl of Arabia”
Sharjah's Gold Souk in the early evening
I write to you from my little sandcastle here in the beautiful city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
I am an American Muslimah originally from San Antonio, Texas. I am married to an Emirati, whom I call The General and we have been married now for over 25 years, MashaAllah.
I have five children. I have four daughters: Lily, Blossom, Rosebud, and Daisy. My one son is Little Man Habibi.
I love to write, sew, crochet, cook…and daydream 
I love my adopted home…the people, the culture, and the traditions.
salams i came across your site on the muslim homeschooler website, i just wanted to say thankyou ive been looking for a site that has emirati food my emirate husband is getting fed up with roast chicken and mash potatos! im going to suprise him with an emirati desert and dish tomorrow inshallah!! thankyou so much!!
As Salaam Alaikum, hi and welcome! Thank you so much for your comment. Please let me know if you liked the recipe.
Assalamu Alaikum Sister! Wonderful effort with the blog! I’m a Pakistani American (from California) married to a Lebanese Egyptian man who grew up in Sharjah. It’s a shame you and I never met while I was living in Sharjah 4 yrs ago. I was part of this great group of American Muslimah women married to Arab husbands, but we’ve all drifted away from Sharjah. I can connect you to an American muslimah from North Carolina married to an Egyptian man and living in Sharjah, if you want.
A.A
I loved your website. Ive been to Sharja and loved it, especially the gold souk and the even better the abaya souk next door. Thank you for the recipes.
Houston Tx
I love Sharjah too ♥ Thanks for stopping by and commenting
I happen to find your blog it nice you got some nice recipe of UAE, I remember learning
how to cook Emirati food,been here for 26year also marry to emirati..
Wow!!! Thanks so much for commenting.
Hi, I love love love your website. I am also American (california/montana) married to an Emirati. Do you have the recipe for fareed? Thanks
Hi,
Yes, I do have a recipe for it. I think that it is called “thareed” … pieces of khobuz and stew right? I will post a recipe soon, InshaAllah. Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I will be posting more recipes soon, InshaAllah
Assalamu Alaikum! Thank you for creating this website! I am from Oregon and have many brothers here from UAE. I have known them for almost three years now and they never seise to amaze me! I have always loved to cook, and cooked in large numbers, perfect for my brothers… Although had gotten tired of constantly cooking cheeseburgers, kubsah and pasta. I was always telling them to bring me back cookbooks from UAE, but some how they always forget.
I came across your blogs/post/ what have yous in desperation of trying to find something that I could make for shibob in order to bring them some sort of comfort while studying here in the states. I love the pictures of all the steps. I am a very visual person, and if I have not made it before… I need to see what it will look like. One of the guys finally brought back a cookbook for me, although the downside is it is in all Arabic! Trying to translate is rather hard, since most of them have not made anything they are requesting. Makes for very interesting new dishes, that is for sure!
So again, thank you for everything! InshaAllah one day I will be able to visit and see what all my brothers are talking about and possibly be able to cook with the women of the country!
Well, your enthusiasm for wanting to cook some traditional recipes made me smile
InshaAllah you will be able to visit the UAE one day.
I’m so glad to have found your website and thanks so much for your link to mine. Having lived in the UAE for over 10 years, as a keen home-cook who is interested in a variety of cuisines, I know so little about Emirati cooking. I’ll be visiting often. You may be interested to see our UAE food blogger facebook group Famished in Arabia too.
Hi! I am also an American living in Dubai and have been attempting to make Emirati dishes so am very glad to have stumbled upon your site. I can’t wait to try some of the recipes you have posted!
Salam Alaikum
I just wanted to let you know that i have been following your blog for over a year now and have made many of the recipes you post and ALL of them come out sooooo delicious! I just finished making the Fried Fish and served it in my MIL’s house and they loved it…I just wanna tell you to keep blogging please! haha….for my stomachs benefit…. I love the way you tell a story in each post about the food and give loads of pics for it, this really helps when its not something i might be familair with cooking…
-with love from abu dhabi
Salam my dear,
It was a breath of fresh air stumbling upon your blog, I have bookmarked your blog site on my page. You seem to have perfected the Emirati cooking better than most of us Mashallah. Please feel free to visit my new food blog
http://blog.lgeimatjunkies.com/
Love
Shaima
Hi! Searching for kinds of fish found in UAE led me to your blog
Lucky me! Every Saturday we travel to Sharjah fish market to buy our weekly supply. Thank you for sharing your recipe’s.
smiles!
abigail
Abigail:
Hello and thank you for stopping by. Please come back and visit again
Thank you Shaima for stopping by and taking the time to comment. Loved your blog as well.
Noora:
Wa Alaikum Salaam,
Thank you for such a sweet and inspiring comment
You have made me blush!
I will get back to blogging soon, InshaAllah. I have a whole lot of pictures but just need to type out the recipes to go with it.
Thank you for stopping by and please come back and visit again, InshaAllah.
sd-b:
I am glad you found your way here
Thank you for commenting and please come back and visit again. 
Salaam – Thank you for sharing your recipes. I took a cooking class in Abu Dhabi, and the teacher was using your recipes! It is very difficult to find Emirati recipes online, so thank you for sharing
Brenda: Thank you for visiting
and Wow! that is neat to know that my recipes are being used in a cooking class…how cool is that? LOL
I hope that you enjoyed the recipes.
hi there! i was planning to surprise my boyfriend by cooking him an emirati food for dinner but then all the site that i stumbled into were not as good as yours since i find it very personal as if you’re talking to your readers. thanks for sharing y0ur recipes and keep on posting ^_^
Masha’allah, an inspiration…i love your daughters name!
and i am discovering your blog with a great pleasure
Hi Marla, I am delighted by your lovely comment. Thank you for taking the time to comment. I hope you have tried and enjoyed making some of the recipes
Hello Rado, thank you for your lovely comment.
GOOD MORNING MARY ANN,
HOW CAN I GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU ,I WOULD APPRECIATE IF YOU CAN SEND ME YOUR NUMBER
I
salam aleiky wa rahmatoulAllahi wa barakatouh
i just moved from london to the emirates in al ain seven days ago i love it ! its so beautiful machaAllah. im french algerian and im married to in emirates <3 i was looking on the internet if i could find lovely recipes for him to make him happy )) and i find your beautiful blog i be taking a lot of your recipes and leaving you feeds backs inchaAllah.
I looking forward to try all those lovely recipes inchaAllah may Allah bless my sister in islam salam aleiky.
Hello Mayada, you can email me at emiraticankitchen@yahoo.com
Um Abdel Halim: Wa Alaikum Salaam! Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting
InshaAllah you and your family enjoy the recipes.
Just the website I had wanted to stumble on. I am kind of drawn towards your lamp stew recipe, will try it out this weekend. One request: my son’s school (Mushrif school, Abu Dhabi) is requesting students/parents to come up with a UAE traditional recipe. Is it ok if I take off your Lamb stew recipe from here and submit to the school? They will compile all entries and publish as a book.
Thank you.
Sajid Waikhom (Abu Dhabi)
Hi There,
I would like your email address to update you on an upcoming food event.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Mary Ann and fellow foodies!
Are you familiar with this Emirati ingredient I found a reference to? It is a dried lichen, one side dusty powder green, the other black. It is sometimes used by the peeople from Hatta to add to Bzar spice mix.
Can anyone put a name to it please?
Thanks!
Mike
Hello Mike, I will ask one of my SILs about this spice and let you know what I find out. Is this ingredient small in size and looks like a coral? Have you seen it included in a mix with a bunch of other ingredients that looks like a potpurri?
Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
Hello Mike,
I found out what the ingredient is that you were asking about. It is “Shaiba” in Arabic. It’s English name is “Black Stone Flower”. It s also called Dagadful or Dagadfool in Indian cuisine. It should be used only in small quantities.
My friend Noor over at Ya Salaam cooking uses this spice in her Bokhari rice recipe:
http://www.yasalamcooking.com/2009/02/bukhari-rice_01.html
Hope this helps!