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With another morning in beautiful Iraq ahead of me, I set out to have a tasty Iraqi breakfast before exploring the largest cemetery in the world!
My guides Jafar and Ali from Bil Weekend, my friend Tasos, and I started at a restaurant in Najaf that sells beef and lamb kebabs. Some of the kebabs are a mix of the two meats!
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We watched them grind and form the kebabs, and grill them. Then, we watched them bake some khubz bread in the tanoor oven. It all looked so good!
The kebabs came with some charred onions, tomatoes, and a wedge of lemon. Jafar showed me how to make a sandwich with all of the ingredients, with some sumac sprinkled on top.
The sumac was a vibrant purple color. Everything combined was so flavorful and smoky. I loved the fresh burst of juiciness from the tomato! I also loved the chicken shorba, which is a thick chicken soup.
We also had hummus and an assortment of vegetable dishes, including some purple cabbage and baytinijan. I loved the hummus with the kebab! But we still had more breakfast spots to hit up!
At our next spot, we’d have some ash and hareesa. Ash is a thick stew made from grains, monk peas, cow peas, and beef. Hareesa is made from wheat and beef, and they add cinnamon to it! The ash is a dark, rich brown color, while the hareesa is pale in color, similar to hummus. They both cook for about 12 hours.
They serve both in containers and finish them by topping them with a ladle full of scalding hot oil! The ash was so thick and earthy, and quite rich. I loved the shredded beef, bans, and crispy onions in it.
It was phenomenal. It’s the type of dish that will fill you up and give you energy in the morning! It was very thick and tasty!
The hareesa was also thick, but had a hint of sweetness from the cinnamon in it. They can actually make it sweeter by adding sugar to it. We added some and mixed it. It made it very sweet!
I loved how sweet, thick, and filling it was, but between it and the ash, I was too full! Plus, the guys there were so kind. Their shop wasn’t too busy because most of the people in the city were along the pilgrimage route to get free food.
Outside, we met some men making Arabic coffee for free. It was really nice and creamy! It was almost like an espresso shot. I definitely needed it to wake up! He was selling it for free because of the pilgrimage happening in Iraq at the moment.
Next, we drove to the Valley of Peace, which is the biggest cemetery in the world. I’d never seen so many tombs in my life, but it looked like it must have been thousands, maybe even more!
We pulled into a parking garage over the cemetery, where we got a nice view over the cemetery. Then, we drove deeper inside. I could see graves of different heights and sizes, as well as empty plots reserved for families. Some graves had flowers or Korans places atop them.
It’s a sad place, but also quite beautiful! It was a nice way to end our morning in Najaf.
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About Me:
My name is David Hoffmann. Since starting David’s Been Here in 2008, I have traveled to over 1,300 destinations in 94 countries to experience and document unique cultures on my KZfaq channel, travel blog, and social media.
I highlight culture and historical sites, but my passion is food! I love to experience and showcase the different flavors each destination has to offer, from casual street food to gourmet restaurant dining.
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