Ramadan recipes: with Sunnah foods

Most Muslims are aware of some of the foods that the Prophet (SAW) used to eat.  And with the coming of Ramadan, it is especially important to not only familiarize ourselves with them but attempt to use them in our recipes.

The month of fasting brings with it certain challenges, not least our stomachs craving sustenance.  The perfect example of how to deal with this in the best manner is of course the Prophet (SAW) with eating the right foods.  Using the same foods that he enjoyed eating with the intention of copying his Sunnah will count as ibaadah insha’Allah.

We have compiled a few recipes below which incorporate some Sunnah foods:

• Talbina
• Date, Pistachio and Coconut Breakfast bars
• Creamy Mushrooms
• Date Chutney
• Butternut Squash Soup
• Kebab Twists
• Fig and Olive Salad

Try to make these Ramadan recipes a habit and implement them into your everyday life for full benefit.

With the right intention, everything we do can count as worship and cooking is no exception.  Look at the following ways you can cook which will count as worship:

Cooking as a form of worship – Ramadan Recipes

• Have wudu whilst cooking – Wudu not only cleanses externally but also purifies us internally by washing off our sins.  A person in wudu is safe from Satan and this brings blessing when cooking.
• Have the intention of cooking food for the pleasure of Allah rather than for people’s compliments.  By doing this, the cooking will be counted as worship and you will be rewarded even if people don’t like the food.  Whereas, cooking only to try and please people who may not like the food anyway may cause you hurt.
• Keep your head and hair covered during cooking.  Who likes one of their hairs being pulled out by someone from the dish you made?
• Start with bismillah.  Allah will fill the food with noor (spiritual light) and barakah (blessings).
• Check the ingredients to make sure they are halal as the one who consumes haram food does not have their worship accepted for 40 days.
• Think of and count the blessings of Allah who has given you the ability to cook and He puts taste in the food.
• Don’t waste anything while cooking being careful to cut out only the parts of the ingredients that shouldn’t be of the recipe.  Allah hates waste and this causes reduction in the favours which are bestowed.
• Make intention of following Sunnah when using any ingredients that were liked by the Prophet (SAW).
• Praise Allah upon completing the food preparation as He has made you the reason of satiating hunger.
• Recite Surah Fatihah and blow over the food.  This Surah is known as a remedy which means it can cure sickness and ward off evil, insha’Allah

So let’s start with the recipes.  These all contain ingredients mentioned in Quran and Sunnah, which are in bold:

Talbina

Talbina is a soup made from barley with milk, dates and honey added.  The Prophet (SAW) said: ‘It (talbina) soothes the grieving heart and cleanses the ailing heart just as one of you cleans dirt off his face with water.’ ( Bukhari)

Ingredients

2^1/2 cups Milk

^1/3 cup ground Barley flakes

5 Dates

Honey (for sweetness)

Almonds

Method

1. Soak the barley flakes in 1 cup of water overnight or soak in boiling water for 1-2 hours
2. Boil the barley with the water until thick and the water evaporates.
3. Add the milk
4. Chop the dates into small pieces and add
5. Leave to boil for about 30 minutes on low heat, until thick and porridge like
6. When the mixture thickens, sweeten with honey
7. Garnish with almonds

Can be stored in the fridge for a few days too.

Date, Pistachio and Coconut Breakfast Bars

Ingredients

250g medjoul Dates

80g pistachios

25g rolled Oats

1 tbsp Honey

1 tbsp Water

60g desiccated coconut

Method

1. Blitz the dates in a food processor until they have formed a rough paste
2. Add the pistachios, oats, honey and water and half the desiccated coconut and blend again until thoroughly mixed
3. Tip the mixture out of the blender and roll into a rectangle about 2cm thick
4. Cut the rectangle into 10 equal bars
5. Put the remaining desiccated coconut in a plate and roll the bars one at a time in it, until they have all been evenly coated with coconut

Creamy Mushrooms

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp Olive oil

500g chestnut Mushrooms sliced

2 Garlic cloves crushed

1 cup cream

1 cup Milk

Pinch of salt and pepper

Handful of chopped parsley

Method

1. Heat the butter and olive oil in a pan
2. Add the sliced mushrooms, salt and pepper
3. Fry until cooked
4. Add the crushed garlic and cook until brown
5. Pour in the milk and cream and simmer for 5-10 minutes
6. Turn off the heat and add the chopped parsley

Date Chutney

Ingredients

1lb Dates

250ml white Vinegar

12 cloves Garlic crushed

1 tsp cumin powder

5-6 green chilies

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp sesame seeds

^½ cup fresh coriander

^½ cup mint

1 tsp salt

Method

1. Remove stones then chop the dates in to small pieces and soak them in vinegar for 1 hour
2. Add the rest of the ingredients to a blender with the dates and vinegar and blitz
3. Store in glass jars in the fridge for up to 2 months

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

1 Butternut Squash

4 cloves Garlic

5 tbsp Olive Oil

^½ tsp salt

^1/4tsp black pepper

^1/2 tsp dry chili flakes

1 red pepper

1 Onion

^1/2litre Water

1 carrot

1 vegetable stock cube

Method

1. Chop the butternut squash into cubes and place in roasting tin
2. Chop the red pepper into chunks and add to the roasting tin
3. Add the unpeeled cloves of garlic to the tin and season with salt and pepper
4. Drizzle with 2 tbsp of olive oil
5. Bake in the oven until the butternut squash is cooked and leave to cool
6. Scoop all the flesh out of the butternut squash, take the garlic out of the skin and with the red pepper leave to one side
7. Chop the onion and carrot and add to a pan with 3tbsp of olive oil and sauté for 5-10 minutes on low heat
8. When the carrots go soft add the butternut squash mixture to the pan
9. Add the stock cube to the pan with 1/2  litre of water.
10. Bring to the boil and remove from heat
11. Blend with a hand blender
12. Add salt, pepper and chili flakes according to taste
13. Bring back to the boil and serve

Kebab Twists

Ingredients

1 block puff pastry

250g Meat minced

^½  tsp cumin powder

1 Onion

^½  tsp Ginger paste

_½ tsp Garlic paste

1 tsp green chili paste

_½  tsp salt

_½ tsp black pepper

Method

1. Wash and drain minced meat
2. Squeeze out water from onion and add to mince
3. Add all the spices to the mince mixture and whiz in food processor
4. Form into forefinger length sausages
5. Place the sausages into frying pan with a little oil and grill until liquid evaporates (until they hold their shape).  Do not dry them out completely; the sausages should still be juicy
6. Roll out puff pastry and cut into forefinger width strips
7. Wrap the pastry round the sausages, leaving a gap between each twist
8. Put in fridge for 10 minutes
9. Brush the pastry with egg and back in oven 230⁰C until golden brown

Fig and Olive Salad

Ingredients

For Salad:

1 Cucumber

4 fresh Figs or 150g dry figs

10 green Olives

10 black Olives

50g Dates

100g feta cheese

For Dressing:

Olive oil

Vinegar

Pomegranate juice

Salt

Pepper

Method

1. Cut the cucumber into chunks
2. Cut the fresh figs into quarters or the dry figs into small chunks
3. After taking the stones out, chop the dates into small pieces
4. Slice or quarter the olives
5. Cube the feta cheese
6. Add all the salad ingredients into a bowl and mix
7. Then add all the dressing ingredients together  and mix until combined
8. Finally add the dressing to the salad before serving

Hope you try these Ramadan recipes and enjoy them. Insha’Allah all of these will be really beneficial and Ramadan recipes can be something which will be a part of our everyday lives.