Dakous (or Daqoos, Daqqus) is the famous Arabic tomato sauce or salsa that people love to eat with Arabic rice. Mostly served with Kabsa rice (Machboos). Prepared with fresh pulpy tomatoes with the flavor of garlic and olive oil. Seasoned with salt and pepper. It’s a 5 minutes Arabic salsa recipe that anybody can make at home to serve with Arabic food.
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What is Daqoos/Dakous?
Dakous or daqoos is the Middle Eastern tomato salsa that people love to eat with Arabic rice dishes especially with kabsa (machboos), or with mandi. It’s a semi-thick tomato salsa, with a sweet, sour, and tangy flavor.
It’s a common recipe and you can easily find it in any Arabic food restaurant all around the world. My mother used to make this salsa with some variations in the traditional dakous recipe as she roast the tomatoes before making the paste and believe me it makes a big difference in taste with roasted tomatoes.
Here I adapt the old-style recipe of dakous which is simple and easy and hardly takes 10 minutes to prepare the complete recipe. If you are making Arabic rice then you can prepare it ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for 3 days.
The pouring of dakous sauce over the rice makes a perfect taste. If you didn’t try it then give it a try and you will love the taste. Sometimes I make to serve with biryani as I feel both compliments with each other.
Other Sauce Recipes: Nacho Cheese Sauce | Honey Garlic Sauce
Ingredients
Fresh Tomatoes: Used fresh pulpy tomatoes.
Tomato Paste: Thick tomato puree will improve the consistency of salsa.
Garlic Cloves: Used grated garlic and cloves to make tomato paste.
Olive Oil: Used extra virgin olive oil.
Salt, Paprika, Black Pepper: Will add salty and tangy taste in the sauce.
Brown Sugar: It will act as a taste enhancer.
The sweet and sour flavor Arabic Dakous salsa is a famous recipe that pairs up well with rice and roasted meat. Make it ahead of time and serve as a side dish with lunch or dinner.
How to Make Daqoos
Here is the step-by-step preparation of Dakous at home. It's simple and easy salsa that goes with several middle eastern food recipes.
- Take pulpy tomatoes and peel the skin. Cut into rough cubes and make a paste in blender with garlic cloves. It will add a garlicky taste in tomatoes that goes well with salsa.
2. In a frying pan, heat the oil and saute grated garlic. As the garlic starts to change color then add garlicky tomato paste to the pan and give it a good stir. Cook on high heat for few minutes until the tomato paste starts to get thick.
3. Now add tomato paste in sauce and give it a good mix. Season with salt, paprika, and black pepper and mix well.
4. Now add brown sugar to enhance the taste of salsa. Check the consistency and make it according to your taste. If it's too thick then add little water and cook for a few minutes to get the appropriate texture. If it's thick then evaporate the water and cook on high heat.
5. Now the dakous salsa is ready to serve.
Expert Tips
- Roma or plum tomatoes are good to make sauce or salsa due to meaty texture. Here you can check the best tomatoes for sauce.
- Garlic will add a strong pungent flavor and powerful garlicky taste that goes well with sauce.
- Paprika used to add tangy flavor. If you don't want then skip it.
- Brown sugar will add mild sweetness in sauce that makes a perfect sweet and sour combination with seasoning.
- Don't cook so long otherwise the salsa lose the taste.
- Garnish with parsley!
Serving Idea
In Arabic food recipes, salsa makes a perfect combination with Arabic rice. Dakous sauce or salsa is also famous as Kabsa sauce. You can also serve the sauce with Mandi, Kabsa, Maqluba, Madfoon, Madhbi, and other rice recipes.
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Dakous (Daqoos Recipe) - Arabic Tomato Sauce For Mandi
Ingredients
- 2 large pulpy tomatoes
- 2 teaspoon tomato paste
- 3 garlic clove
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ⅓ Salt
- ⅓ Paprika
- ⅓ Black Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Brown Sugar
Instructions
- Peel the tomatoes and cut into cubes.
- Add cubes into blender with 2 garlic cloves.
- Make a thick paste.
- In a pan, pour oil and let it heat for few seconds.
- Add a clove of grated garlic and sauce until it starts to change color.
- Now add blended tomato patse and cook on high heat for few minutes.
- Add thick tomatoe paste and mix it well.
- Season with salt, paprika and black pepper.
- Add brown sugar and give it a good mix to medium heat to cook all the ingredients together.
- Add water to adjust the consistency of sauce. If it's runny then don't add water. If it's thick then add water and adjust the thickness accordingly.
- Now the sauce is ready to serve!
Notes
- Used pulpy tomatoes that are good for sauce. I prefer Roma or plum tomatoes that make a perfect sauce texture.
- Added garlic to blend tomatoes and saute garlic both will add a flavor in a different way that makes a perfect taste in dakous sauce.
- Paprika is entirely optional. It will add a spicy flavor to sauce.
- Brown sugar will work as a taste enhancer. It will add a mild sweetness in sauce.
- Don't cook salsa for too long otherwise, it will lose the freshness of tomatoes.
- Garnish with parsley!
Pvfei
Its so nice but i add chili paste fresh, chopped green capsicum and tamarind sauce to be much more tastier. I love it!
Hinz
Yes, it could be the great addition.. There are variety of addons that can add according to taste.. It's an standard recipe that can be diversify as per the taste...
Hinz
Authentic Dakous recipe prepared with fresh tomatoes. Must try with Kabsa rice!
Ayesha
Is it important to add brown sugar?? Will it be sweet??
Hinz
You can skip if you want! Sugar is basically used as taste enhancing agent.