Ramadan Recipes ~ What’s Cooking This Month
It’s not Ramadan without ‘Atief, our go-to Ramadan indulgence. There are endless ways to fill and prepare these little pancakes. My method is to stuff them with walnuts and bake them. I serve them as dessert or a sweet suhoor snack. I prepare ‘atar scented syrup to pour over top.
As for iftar, every night we sit down to this easy Lentil Soup. This has been a tradition at our house for years, and it’s one of the most popular recipes on my website.
Meanwhile, another flavorful soup to try during Ramadan is Moroccan-style Lentil Soup with Chickpeas. This is a good soup if you are looking for something hearty.
As for main courses, our favorite family iftar is the Palestinian dish Maqluba, which means “upside down” in Arabic. It’s prepared in a layered pot—chicken, rice and cauliflower simmered on the stove. We traditionally eat this dish on the first day of Ramadan, as we did this year. I plan to prepare it several more times before the month is over. On the side, I serve a Simple Arab Salad and Yogurt Cucumber Salad.
Aonther terrific side dish during Ramadan is Fattoush, a hearty peasant salad from the Levant. It’s super-healthy, as it’s loaded with various greens and veggies and prepared with an olive oil dressing. The salad is topped with toasted Arabic bread pieces, which is what makes it fattoush.
As for suhoor, the pre-dawn meal during Ramadan, one popular dish is Foul, a Egyptian fava bean breakfast, which is filling and nutritious. Also, I can’t forget Hummus, which can be made in advance and served for both iftar and suhoor.
Finally, I’d like to wish you all Ramadan Kareem.
Question: What are your favorite Ramadan foods?
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Ramadan Kareem Holly! It was really nice reading about your Ramadan customs and traditions. You are lucky to live in the ME and have all the hullabaloo around you, here in the US we have to make Ramadan special for the kids and make it feel like a holiday for them. Its hard work but with the mosque community and tarawih and Iftars, its a lot of fun too. Its nice to find your site with all your wonderful recipes. I have a question, do you have a recipe for the Saudi coffee with the green beans? I have some but I cannot seem to get it just right and have it taste like what i used to drink in Saudi. Thanks
Nazneen
Hello Nazeen,
Thanks for reading & thanks for your comment. Yes, I remember well celebrating Eid and observing Ramadan in the US. My friends and I all created handmade greeting cards & we put together all sorts of decorations from whatever we had available. We organized children’s parties, too. Like you said, fun but hard work!!
As for the Saudi coffee… Although I have had it, I am not an expert in making it. I did a little search online & it looks very similar to making Arabic coffee. I suggest searching on YouTube & looking at a few sites such as American Bedu. Good luck with it & Ramadan Mubarak!
Hi Holly,
I really enjoyed your site. I grew up on the walnut filled cookies, I didn’t know there were other fillings. My Aunt Aggie wrote a Middle Eastern Cookbook before she died and these were one of my favorite things in it. Also Lamb and Green Beans is awesome. Thank you for lovely recipes.
Laurinda
Hi Laurinda, Thanks so much for the comment. I only recently started making the walnut and pistachio ma’amoul. So many tasty ways to prepare this pastry. I think I know the lamb & green bean recipe you are talking about. Haven’t eaten it in a long time. You’ve given me an idea…. bye for now & Happy Eid!