Kuwaiti home cooking · Dried lime tang
Kuwaiti Chicken Quwarmah Recipe (Quwarmah Al Dajaj)
Tangy loomi. Soft chicken. Silky onion sauce.
Recipe by Farwa ZeeshanTested in the NineFoods home kitchenQuwarmah is Kuwait's answer to a korma: chicken simmered in a sauce of slow-cooked onions, baharat and dried black lime. If the loomi is added whole and unpierced, the stew has no tang. If it is cracked too much, it turns bitter. This recipe gets the loomi just right and cooks the onions down until the sauce is silky.
The 3 laws of quwarmah
Why this recipe works
Whole sealed loomi
Pierce each dried lime twice so its tang can flow out.
Cracked limes
Loomi seeds are bitter. Pierce, never crush, and lift the limes out before serving.
Raw onion taste
Cook the onions until soft and golden. They become the sauce.
Shopping and prep list
Ingredients
Chicken
Sauce
Finish
The NineFoods loomi tang test
How tangy is the sauce?
Taste the sauce after 20 minutes of simmering. Tap what you taste.
Method · 4 stages
Step by step
Brown the chicken
- Season the chicken with salt.
- Brown in ghee on all sides and lift out.
Cook the onions
- In the same pot, cook onions until soft and golden.
- Add garlic, ginger, baharat, turmeric and cardamom and cook 1 minute.
Simmer with loomi
- Add tomatoes and cook 3 minutes.
- Return the chicken, add pierced loomi and hot water.
- Cover and simmer until the chicken is tender. Check the tang with the gauge above.
Finish
- Remove the loomi.
- Add saffron and coriander and serve.
Chef's troubleshooter
What went wrong? Pick the symptom
Why
The loomi was crushed or left in too long.
Fix next time
Pierce, never crush, and remove the limes once the tang is right.
Why
The loomi was not pierced.
Fix next time
Pierce each lime twice and press it during the simmer.
Why
Too much water, or onions not cooked down.
Fix next time
Simmer uncovered 10 minutes.
Why
Onions were not cooked long enough.
Fix next time
Cook onions until fully soft and golden before the spices.
Why
Breast was simmered too long.
Fix next time
Use thighs and drumsticks, or add breast pieces 15 minutes later.
Swap smart
Ingredient roles and substitutes
| Ingredient | Job in the dish | Swap with |
|---|---|---|
| Loomi | Signature tangy earthiness | Zest and juice of 1 lemon plus a pinch of sumac |
| Kuwaiti baharat | Warm spice blend | Equal cumin, coriander, black pepper and cinnamon |
| Ghee | Rich Gulf flavour | Butter |
| Chicken | Main protein | Lamb, simmer 75 minutes |
| Saffron | Aroma | Leave out |
After the meal
Serve, store, reheat
Serve with
Plain white rice (aish abyad) or Arabic bread.
Store
Fridge 3 days. Freezer 2 months.
Reheat without drying
Warm covered on low with a splash of water.
How we tested this recipe
Tested in a home kitchen, not a studio
Recipe developed and tested by Farwa Zeeshan, who cooks and tests every NineFoods recipe on a regular home stove.
- Cooked from start to finish with the exact quantities above for 4 servings, using both the metric and US cup measures.
- Every one of the 4 stages was timed at the stove; heat levels and the 'look for' cues are what we saw in the pan.
- The doneness check (how tangy is the sauce) and the troubleshooter come from batches that went wrong, and how we fixed them.
- Reheating and storage advice was checked on leftovers, not guessed.
Keep cooking
Related recipes and guides
Quick answers
Chicken quwarmah FAQ
What is loomi?
Loomi is a dried black lime used across the Gulf. It adds a sour, earthy and slightly smoky flavour to stews.
Is quwarmah the same as korma?
They share a name and roots, but Kuwaiti quwarmah uses baharat and dried lime rather than yoghurt and nuts.
Why is my quwarmah bitter?
The dried limes were crushed or simmered too long. Pierce them and remove them once the sauce is tangy.
What do you serve with quwarmah?
Plain white basmati rice is traditional in Kuwait.