Ramadan in Gaza, before Israel’s war, brings back memories of the decorations strung up days before the holy month’s arrival, children playing with their fawanees, the corner market, the care we took in changing our tablecloth and our gatherings at suhur time.
We used to buy string lights and children’s toys and wake up to the sound of the mesaharati banging his drum, waking us up for our suhur meal and the adhaan calling out from the mosques. No family suhur gathering was complete without the sound of laughter.
The final minutes before iftar time are unforgettable; we used to race to lay out the dining table and then sit down with seconds to spare before the Maghrib adhaan, raising our hands in supplication.
During Ramadan in Gaza, we cook mainly white and green dishes: white dishes so that Ramadan brings upon us white days of happiness, and green dishes to bring optimism that Ramadan will return to us in the coming years and so our days are green and blooming with joy.
This Ramadan again will be painful for Gazans who have not recovered from the wounds of war.
In Palestine, we have our own special Ramadan rituals, which include tasty dishes that distinguish Palestine from other countries. I asked my mother to share a few of her favourite Ramadan recipes. These are the dishes she cooked and which we grew up eating during Ramadan in Gaza.
Molokhia (green jute marrow leaves) with lamb
Molokhia is a popular dish not only in Palestine, but much of the Arab world. In Palestine, molokhia is often homegrown and the molokhia leaves are bought fresh. They can either be cooked right away or be dried, stored and used throughout the year. Molokhia is a comforting dish that is particularly popular in Palestine during Ramadan. Its name comes from its main ingredient, green jute marrow leaves.
Ingredients:
For the molokhia stew:
- 3 cups lamb broth
- 1kg fresh or dried molokhia leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon coriander
- 1 minced garlic clove
For the ta’liyya (garlic mixture):
- 2 tablespoons ghee
- 1 tablespoon coriander
- 6 finely minced garlic cloves
For the lamb:
- ½ kg lamb, diced into cubes
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom or 7 cardamom cloves
- ¾ teaspoon fine ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
Method:
To prepare the ta’liyya (garlic mixture):
- Heat the ghee in a frying pan. Once melted, sauté the minced garlic and coriander and make sure you keep stirring. Make sure you don’t burn the mixture.
- Remove the garlic mixture from the heat and set aside.
To prepare the lamb:
- Put your diced lamb into a large saucepan and cover with a suitable amount of water.
- Add the onion, minced garlic, cardamom, black pepper and salt.
- Leave the lamb to cook on the stove on a low heat for about an hour.
- Drain the meat from the broth and set the meat to the side.
To prepare the molokhia with lamb:
- Separate and wash your molokhia leaves, then drain them and allow them to air dry completely.
- Chop the molokhia leaves finely and then add it to the meat broth along with the coriander, salt and garlic.
- Turn the fire back on and allow the molokhia to cook in the broth for several minutes.
- Add back the cooked lamb and stir it into the molokhia stew thoroughly.
- Place the lid on the saucepan and allow the stew to cook for ten minutes.
- Now add the ta’liyya (garlic mixture) to the molokhia and lamb stew and allow it to cook for a further two minutes.
- Remove it from the heat and serve.
Molokhia can be served with a side of rice or Arabic bread.
Chicken Maqlouba
Maqlouba can arguably be called the queen of traditional Palestinian dishes. For decades, resilient Palestinian women have cooked and served maqlouba to Palestinians at the gates of Al Aqsa in Jerusalem who were barred from worshipping inside the mosque due to orders from the Israeli Occupation Army. Maqlouba has become a symbol of power, strength, resilience, patience and of our steadfastness to our land.
Ingredients:
- 1.5 kg chicken, cut with bones remaining
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- A few black cloves
- 1 cardamom pod
- 1 bay leaf
- A pinch of cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon mixed spice
- 3 cloves of crushed garlic
- Salt according to your preference
- 2.5 cups long grain rice
- ¾ cup vermicelli, broken up into small pieces (optional)
- Vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 medium aubergine, sliced into round discs
- 1 head of cauliflower, chopped
- 3-5 carrots, chopped
- 1 medium potato, sliced into round discs
- 3 cups pine nuts
Method:
- Cut the aubergine into thin round slices. Sprinkle salt over the slices and leave them on the side for half an hour. This will bring any moisture from the aubergine to the surface. Pat the slices dry with kitchen towel after half an hour.
- Boil your chicken in a large saucepan with a suitable amount of water on medium heat and add the black pepper, cumin, turmeric, cloves, cardamom pod, diced onion and salt. Wait for the water to reach boiling point before reducing the heat. Allow the chicken to boil for a further half an hour.
- Pour enough vegetable oil into a frying pan to fry your vegetables.
- Once the oil is hot, fry your carrots for four minutes, potato for three minutes, cauliflower for seven minutes and aubergine for around four minutes (with the aubergine, until its water has dried out).
- Set the vegetables on blotting paper or kitchen towel to absorb some of the oil.
- To prepare your rice, put two and a half tablespoons of cooking oil in a medium-sized saucepan with the heat on medium. When the oil is hot, add the broken-up vermicelli and stir until browned.
- Add rice and then a suitable amount of water and mix the vermicelli into the rice.
- Cook on a low heat until the water has evaporated.
To put together the maqlouba:
- In a large round cooking pot, first layer the chicken on the bottom of the pot.
- Follow this by layering the vegetables.
- The final layer should be the cooked rice.
- Pour enough chicken broth (left from boiling the chicken earlier) on top of the rice.
- Place the cooking pot on high heat until the chicken broth is boiling, then turn down to low heat and allow to cook for a further half an hour.
- Once done, carefully flip the cooking pot onto a large serving dish so that the maqlouba comes out with the chicken on the top. Garnish with pine nuts. Serve with salad and natural yoghurt.
Maftoul
Maftoul is a famous Palestinian dish that is prepared in times of celebration, such as Eid and weddings. It is also popular in camp areas, where it is a warm dish during cold winter days. Maftoul is a distinctive dish for its nutritional diversity; it contains carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, animal and vegetable protein, fats and Omega-3, making it a nutritionally complete dish.
Ingredients:
- ½ kg packaged maftoul
- A whole chicken, quartered and skin removed
- ½ cup dried chickpeas
- 2 onions, sliced
- 3 tablespoons ghee
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon mixed spice
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda
Method:
- Wash your dried chickpeas well and leave them to soak in a bowl of cold water for one day.
- Drain the chickpeas, add a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda and set the chickpeas aside for half an hour.
- Wash and drain the chickpeas again and then boil them in water until they are fully cooked.
- Marinade the chicken for at least two hours in the mixed spice, cinnamon, cumin and cardamom, in addition to salt and black pepper.
- In a large saucepan, boil the marinaded chicken in a suitable amount of water alongside one sliced onion until the chicken has fully cooked and is soft (at least an hour).
- In a saucepan, melt a tablespoon of ghee and add the maftoul. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and stir the maftoul.
- Pour the chicken broth into another large saucepan and place a wide enough strainer on top of the saucepan.
- Place the maftoul into a colander and cover it with a clean, damp cloth or kitchen towel to prevent the steam from escaping.
- Then place the maftoul back in the saucepan on medium heat for 15 minutes until the maftoul releases steam.
- In another saucepan, melt a tablespoon of ghee and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Add in the second sliced onion and a pinch of salt, and sauté until the onion softens.
- Add the cooked chicken to the saucepan, chicken broth, chickpeas and lemon juice to the sauteed onions and allow this mixture to cook on low heat for 15 minutes, until it reaches boiling point.
- Melt a tablespoon of ghee in another large saucepan. Add the maftoul and stir for a few minutes. Transfer some of the chickpea and chicken broth mixture to the saucepan containing the maftoul and leave to cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
- Serve the maftoul in a large serving dish with the chicken pieces and chickpeas on top. You can serve the chicken broth as a side soup, along with green onions and radishes as sides too. Add lemon juice for extra flavour.
Arabic Kunafe
Arabic kunafe is a type of kunafe that became popular in Palestinian cities such as Gaza and Ramallah, although it is not as famous as Nabulsi kunafe, despite it being more nutritious and free of artificial sugar. Arabic kunafe is prepared from walnuts, honey and olive oil, making it also lower in calories.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup coarse bulgar wheat
- 1 cup semolina
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ tablespoon baking powder
- ½ tablespoon ground nutmeg
- 1 cup olive oil
- 1 cup walnut hearts
- Some ground pistachios
- Pine nuts and cashews for decoration
- Ingredients for sugar syrup:
- 2 cups of sugar
- 1 cup of water
- Lemon juice
Method:
- Soak the bulgar in cold water for at least three hours and then drain properly.
- Grind the walnuts into fine powder and add a tablespoon of cinnamon. Mix until properly combined.
- In another bowl, mix the semolina, sugar, vanilla extract, baking powder and ground nutmeg until properly combined. Then gradually add olive oil to this mixture until a soft dough forms.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts. On a flat baking tray, place half the dough and spread evenly. Spread the walnut and cinnamon mix on top of that.
- Leave the tray in a warm place for 20 minutes for the dough to swell and rise.
- Take the tray out and spread the second half of the dough over the walnut layer evenly. Be careful not to allow the walnut filling to spill out.
- Preheat the oven to a high temperature. Reduce the heat to medium when the kunafe is ready to put in to bake. Bake the kunafe on the middle rack for around half an hour until the edges have browned.
- While the kunafe is baking, prepare your sugar syrup. Dissolve the sugar in the water in a small saucepan and place on medium heat. Add the lemon juice and keep stirring for around 10 minutes until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- Take the kunafe out of the oven and allow to rest. It should look golden.
- Pour the sugar syrup over the kunafe and allow it to soak completely. Garnish with ground pistachios, pine nuts and cashews and serve warm.
Haya Ahmed is a doctor and freelance writer from Gaza
