Ramadan: Though Ramadan is the Islamic month of fasting, it is also the month of eating. From the moment the family gathers round the table for iftar, the breaking of the fast, till the suhour meal before another day of fasting commences, eating is a major preoccupation. Ramadan is an occasion for family and friends to meet for iftar, but whether there are guests or not, the table is always laden with all sorts of goodies. The faithful will break their fast with dates and milk, a custom recently imported from the Gulf countries and popular because it is sunna, or a practice the Prophet used to follow. Next comes the soup, often a French or Western recipe, possibly a result of interaction with the foreign communities that were so much a part of the social fabric of Alexandria. Ful is a must on the iftar table; if it is eaten with great appetite throughout the year for breakfast or lunch or dinner or snack, it is even more popular in Ramadan when it asserts its identity as the staple diet of the Egyptian population. A hot mezzeh is occasionally offered, in the form of qatayef stuffed with cheese filling, a variation on samboosek. Some people even use minced meat, which brings to mind the famous Spanish and Argentinian Empanadas de Carne Fritas. Then the serious eating begins. There will be rice (often with nuts) and pasta and meat and chicken and vegetable stews, and while many will avoid fried fish because the thirst it induces is not welcome in Ramadan, pickles are a must. Then there are cold drinks to slake the thirst of a long day of fasting, especially if Ramadan happens to fall on a hot month. The most favorite drink is an apricot paste diluted in water, called qamar el din. Other popular drinks, natural and nutritious, are carob (kharoub), tamarind (tamr hindi), liquorice (er’ souss), and hibiscus (karkadeh – good for regulating blood pressure).

And when the family is fairly groaning with all that food in it – just as the table is groaning with the food on it – the desserts are served. This is the highlight of the day. The two mandatory Ramadan sweets are konafa and qatayef. Konafa is pastry, shredded very finely like vermicelli, and stuffed with either mixed nuts and raisins or ricotta cheese, and covered with a sweet syrup. Qatayef is rather like crepe, and is also stuffed with nuts or ricotta cheese and the sweet syrup will be poured over it. Both are rich and nutritious foods, suitable for fasting days, and are eaten also in the Levant, Turkey, Greece and the Balkans. Historians differ on where konafa originated, whether it was Turkey, or Nablus in Palestine, which makes the most famous konafa of all, konafa Nabulsiyya. Konafa and qatayef were introduced from Syria to Egypt during the Fatimid period in the 11th century.

Kunafa Nabulsiyya

(courtesy of the Palestinian community in Alexandria)

1 kg akawi cheese, ½ cm thick slices
Water to soak cheese
Butter, to prepare trays
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
½ tsp lemon juice
½ cup orange blossom water
1 kg kunafa
230 g unsalted butter, melted

• Soak cheese in water for about 3 hours refreshing water about 3 - 4 times.
• Butter 2 shallow trays. Trays should be 40 cm and 60 cm in diameter.
• Prepare syrup by combining sugar, water, lemon juice and orange blossom water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil then lower heat and simmer until thickened.
• Pull apart kunafa hairs to separate and shorten.
• Place kunafa and butter in a large pot over medium heat and turn continuously until warmed through, about 5 minutes.
• Arrange ½ kunafa in smaller tray pressing down with palm of hand.
• Place tray over medium heat and turn tray occasionally to distribute heat evenly until kunafa is golden.
• Remove from heat and arrange cheese over kunafa.
• Arrange remaining kunafa over cheese pressing with palm of hand then insert in a medium oven until golden.
• Flip small tray onto large one to turnover the kunafa.
• Pour warm syrup onto kunafa and serve warm.

A variation on these two traditional sweets is Om Ali, a pastry covered with warm milk and nuts, said to have become widespread in Egypt during the Mamluk period. The story is that when the wife of the sultan Ezzedine Aybak managed to get rid of his other wife Shagaret el Durr, and set her own son Ali on the throne, she distributed this sweet which became known as Om Ali – the mother of Ali.

Yet another variation, eaten during Ramadan but also throughout the year, is lokmet el qady, the morsel of the judge. Strange name, admittedly, perhaps the result of cultural interaction in the Mediterranean, as the following article sets out to explore:

Amongst the things that Mediterranean peoples quarrel over are the origins of Loukoumades – a pastry similar to the doughnut. It’s generally accepted that they are the rightful property of the Greeks, though they have evolved into a traditional Egyptian sweet found readily on the streets of Alexandria. One particularly fine loukoumades outlet was Tournazaki, a shop that could be found be found in Rue de Poste, downtown Alex.

Long before that, the Jewish community decided to adopt loukoumades as their own and called them Sufganiyot, which is a jelly doughnut rolled in sugar. It is said that the honey syrup used on the loukoumades of today is of Turkish origin; therefore the sweet is a molding of East and West cuisine. This is where the Egyptians take over, gracefully transforming the loukoumades into the famous lokmet el qady, which can be eaten with powdered sugar, or sugar and honey syrup. A modern Greek preference is to eat them with mastic ice-cream, or cinnamon.

Many shops in Alexandria have a side stand where a man stands in front of a pot of oil and amazes bystanders with his quick hand movements as he cuts the dough with a spoon making perfect spheres. This is expert work, so don’t expect perfect results if you decide to make loukoumades for yourself. Regardless of the shape, they make a melt-in-the-mouth, delicious snack.

Make your own:
1 ½ cups luke warm water
1 big tsp dry yeast
2 cups flour
A dash of salt

How to mix it all up:
In a large bowl, throw the yeast into the water which has to be lukewarm, until it gets all soft and bubbly. Then throw in the flour and the salt and mix everything with a wooden spoon until the dough is quite soft and sticky. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and keep somewhere warm for an hour. Heat oil in a deep pot, pull up your sleeves, take a small teaspoon and begin tossing the dough with the spoon into the hot oil. Improvise until you get the size of the loukoumades you want. Remove from the oil when it gets golden.
You could then traditionally add syrup, powder sugar, honey, ice-cream, or more exotically cinnamon.

The syrup
Fill a cup with water and put it in a deep saucer. Add two cups of sugar and a teaspoon of lemon juice. Boil all together for ten minutes. Remove from heat and add one flat teaspoon of vanilla; do this before you start making the dough because the syrup has to be cold when you serve it with the loukoumades.
(By Mona Daoud and Edward Cooper, from the Alex Med Newsletter, Issue 1, Sept-Dec 2005)

Back to Ramadan, where the feast continues. After dessert, and mint tea and coffee, nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds (collectively known as yamish) will be nibbled on as the family relaxes in front of the TV and the numerous soap operas that are a feature of Ramadan. Increasingly, people are growing to prefer a few hours of praying to watching TV.

Finally, the family prepares for another day of fasting by having a final meal at suhhour, before the dawn breaks. It is not a meal kept by all, many preferring to stay up slightly later than usual and have a late dinner instead. Increasingly, however, it has been encouraged that those who fast try to catch some sleep then wake up for a snack since this is considered sunna, something practiced by the Prophet. A typical meal would be an oriental type breakfast of ful, eggs, yoghurt and cheese; basically protein foods that will help sustain energy for another day of total abstinence. Few will eat a heavy meal, to avoid indigestion and thirst the next day. Then a cup of tea is drunk before a few hours’ sleep introduces another day of fasting and a night of feasting and praying.

One relative novelty during the month of Ramadan, at least in the extent it has become so prominent is “ma'edat el rahman”, or “table of the merciful”. Exactly when the practice was begun, there is no precise information, but it certainly is quite new on the Alexandrian scene. It was always encouraged that people give out of the same food they eat for the Iftar of the needy in the neighborhood or serving classes. That would usually be a platter sent to the porter of the house, or those who cannot go home in time to breakfast with their family. Gradually, this evolved to become a whole meal set for as few as ten or twenty seated around a “tableyya” (a round typical Egyptian table, around which people would gather to sit on the floor and eat) in the garden of a villa, a garage, or a quiet side street, or as many as a few hundred around regular dining tables, if a nearby alley allowed. The tables would be laid side by side, with flatware and crockery varying according to district and how much the benefactor is willing to pay for them, often preferring to invest in the actual food rather than the fancy tableware. Usually, a cook, or retired chef is called upon for such events, a big stove and very basic cooking utensils are provided, plus a few helpers, often women. The ingredients for the dishes are usually purchased by the person offering those free meals.

Soup kitchens were always around in one way or another, but the tradition at Ramadan may well have been begun by King Farouk in the wake of the economic crisis following World War II when he would serve large meals in public squares for the populace as a token of social bonding. The sovereign's iftars drew people by the hundreds, and he designated special days to different groups: laborers, employees, students etc. and took special care to attend or at least make an appearance to break the idiomatic bread and any existing ice. From accounts received, the food served would be of the highest quality and the menu carefully planned by the king's chef, then revised and approved by the sovereign himself before being prepared in the royal kitchens. These royal iftars for the masses were later referred to by the press as “The People's Restaurants”.

 The tradition has become well established of late, having found favor with many affluent households and businessmen who often hold the “ma'eda” at the site of their factories or offices. All passersby are welcome to partake, who sometimes sample at different sites before deciding which “ma'eda” is most to their taste, and some ask for their meals wrapped “take away” style to take home and eat later. It is not unusual for a chef to send an occasional dish to his employers (normally to the lady of the house) to show off his skill and reassure them as to the quality of service they are offering. Another much more recent version of helping people break their fast on the road, is that of young men serving the traditional Ramadan drinks of hibiscus, carob, tamarind and apricot, supplemented of late by sobia, to passersby and vehicle drivers unable to stop for a meal or who, deterred by traffic were unable to get home in time for their meal. A recent variation includes a small package of finger foods and sandwiches.

It used to be that Moslems would often wait until they got home or reached destination to have their iftar and not have to revert to chowing on the road. However, with changing times came a few changing styles. Alexandria had once boasted much better traffic flow than Cairo, but that today is a myth of the past, hence the need for food served on the road for those running late or simply unable to go home and get back to work again. Besides, a growing number of citizens are fasting and socializing during the Holy Month whose gastronomical habits and recipes find favor with all.  Even those who would have abstained from fasting if traveling or unwell, rarely do so today, in spite of the license in Islam exempting those on the road, or ill, as well as pregnant women from keeping their fast provided they make up for it later.