Tag: Fasting

Just writing

Baklawa

nhpureandsimple

Or baklava? Both are correct – the first is in Arabic, and the second in Turkish.

You can buy it from the shops or restaurants, or make it at home. I love to make it. It’s the simplest recipe ever: puff pastry sheets, ground nuts, butter, and syrup. There are millions of videos on YouTube for this simple dessert.

Baklawa is most famous and enjoyed during the month of fasting; Ramadan – our very special, once – a -year guest.

Are your mouth watering  already? Mine is.

Sometimes, you might think, like me, that you can transform your traditional dessert recipe into a healthier one. Here’s my experiment with baklawa last year, and my baklawa this year.

Last Ramadan, I decided to cut all fine sugar and use honey, dates, or fruits in all desserts, including baklawa. It wasn’t because I was on a diet or had any medical issues, but because I want to eat healthily. So, the only change I made to baklawa was to replace the sugar with honey. But honey is thick and has a different taste, yet I insisted on using it.


“Where is the sugar, mama?”
“Why does it taste weird?”
“Is there any other dessert?”

My family compalined, obviously didn’t like it, and neither did I. It wasn’t making your mouth-water but rather make it shut and dry.

Therefore, for this Ramadan, I’m making it the normal way with homemade sugar syrup. Now, that’s the mouth-watering baklawa with layers of pastry sheets full of ground pistachios, walnuts, and almond. On top of each crispy piece, the shiny syrup spreads smoothly and penterates deeply into each layer. One bite of baklawa with its dripping syrup would make it ready to fast for the whole year!

Have you tried fasting before? I’m just wondering how you feel about it?

With all the best wishes,

Nahla

Just writing

Oat soup

nhpureandsimple

 

Image result for oat soup

 

Hello everyone. It’s been ages since I posted anything, but sometimes one gets busy with other things or a bit lazy.

Today it’s about my oat soup. It wasn’t my recipe, to be honest; I watched a Youtuber cooking it and decided to try. It’s good to try but not so much when you’re fasting. But, why not?

These days we are fasting the month of Ramadan. We usually break our fasting with dates, water or juice. Then we started with soup. By the way my boys sometimes ( or always)  didn’t follow the same order, and started with the main course.

Ah, back to the oat soup, it looks delicious on Youtube but turned into a totally different thing on our dining table at Iftar time. Untouched. All the soup was poured back into the pan, and today I’m waiting to see if the birds in the garden will have a different view.

Do you like Oat soup?

Wishing you all the best,

Nahla

PS the photo is of course not mine. It’s on google, but maybe next time, next year,  mine will be yummy.

 

Just writing

No Experiments

nhpureandsimple

 

 

Image result for Ramadan Iftar

 

It is nice to try new food and it is even nicer to cook it. Simple recipes are available everywhere, especially on social media. Food has become easy to cook, yummy to eat, and fast to deliver. But on the first day of fasting, it is not a good idea to make any experiments. Not only because there will not be enough time or energy to cook another meal, but it will be very disappointing. Imagine the boys and their father look at the colourful dish, smell its spices, wondering what it can be, then fill the spoon, and taste it. ‘Yuk! it’s the first day, mama’

No, I’m not going to try any new recipes; not today. Traditional food is the best for the first day, something we all like to eat. When my son came back from school, he liked the smell of the food but he asked; ‘ can we have some chips? Extra side, mama’. ‘Of course, not. I won’t add anything,’ I told him. But that’s it, I thought. If I plan to make any new dish, I will make sure I add large chips, just in case.

Wishing you all the best,

Nahla

 

 

Just writing

Are you ready?

nhpureandsimple

 

IMG_2290

Tomorrow will be the first day of  Ramadan. My sons kept reminding me; mama please don’t forget this and that when making this week shopping. They want the fridge and the kitchen cupboard to be full of snacks and desserts so after Iftar (breakfast), they will transfer those sweet and salty packets to their rooms when they usually disappear; ‘ we’re going to relax for a bit before night prayer. This relaxation means snacks + mobile.  That’s not all, the first thing they asked me: ‘ What are you going to cook on the first day?’

Don’t think that they love food that much. This is their way of celebration which they practised since they had started fasting.  When they were young, we used to encourage them to fast in this way, by getting lots of snacks to be shared by all of us after having our iftar. Now they are teenagers, taller than me,  but still, like to keep this habit.

By the way, the month of Ramadan is not about food. I like to follow you-tubers or others on social media sharing their recipes for the holy month, just for fun.

Fasting is an obedience; one of the main pillars of Islam. In this month, Muslims are supposed to do their best to obey The Lord, to show how far we can get close, and how far we can be better. It’s a reminder to care more for the soul than for the body.

 

This month, I will try to write a post every day. I will write about our experience of fasting this year. It might be so brief, but at least, I will try.

Wishing you all the best,

Nahla