Ramadan Iftar Meal Plans 2015 (3)

Struggling with ideas on what to cook during Ramadan? This website has recipes for every day of the month which includes starters, mains and deserts.

Here is a sample of what you can look forward to this year.



Beef ministrone, aubergine salad, spinach and rocket lasagne, lamb pastry, maamoul tart, kunafe.

Enjoy!

Fatayer, Borek with puff pastry, spinach and feta

Make sure you don't overfill the fatayer, as it won't close/seal

Fold in thirds towards the middle, leaving a tiny hole at the top

Enjoy spinach and feta fatayer fresh out of the oven!

Ingredients:
1 sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
500 g blanched spinach
250 g feta cheese
1 medium sized onion, chopped finely
1/2 tsp. all spice powder
1 tsp. sumac
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
Flour

Method :
Heat olive oil in a pan and light fry the onions till tender. Add the spinach, spices, feta cheese, seasoning and mix well.
Roll out the puff pastry into 10 cm rounds (I placed a cup and cut around it) and fill each round with a scooped spoon of the spinach mixture. Bring up three sides of the round to form a pyramid and pinch the edges to seal it.
Place the pies / fatayars on a baking sheet, brush lightly with some olive oil and bake in a preheated oven for 25 to 30 mins or until pastry is golden brown and cooked through (I flipped mine over halfway so none of the pastry was soggy) at gas mark 5.

Recipe from: http://plaingeets.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/gourmand-geets-spinach-feta-fatayer/

Iftar featuring vegetarian shepherds pie and a recipe for refreshing lemonade

Salam and hello fellow readers,

Yes you read it right! Vegetarian shepherds pie made with quorn mince which we made for iftar last week.

Ezogelin - Turkish lentil soup

Feta and pomegranate salad

Quorn shepherds pie with creamy cheesy mash!

Profiteroles and a jug of homemade lemonade

Lemonade recipe:

Ingredients for syrup-

• 5 lemons

• 1 cup water

• 200-250g sugar

Method - 

• Put ingredients in a pan and boil.

• Leave to cool and place in fridge or freezer (especially good if it's a hot day, as the syrup will be an ice block which will cool the water in the jug)

• Once cool/frozen, place in jug and top up with plain water or sparkling water. You may need to add more lemon/water according to taste.

• Enjoy!

Post a comment if you want the shepherds pie recipe! 

Recipe: Date Paste Crumble (Batheetha)

Ingredients:

1kg flour

3 cups caramel water

1 cup corn oil

1 cup date paste

1 cup sugar 

Preparation:

Heat the corn oil in a cooking pot and add the flour. Sauté the mixture until brown, then add the date paste, caramel water, sugar and mix for about five minutes. 

When properly cooked, remove from heat. Can be served hot or cold. A side addition of chopped fruit or ice cream perks it up nicely.

Recipe by Mike Harrison. Published in Times of Oman's 2011 edition of Art of Cooking - Flavours of Arabia

Source

Ramadan iftar meal plans 2014

As salaamu alaykum,

Last year, I posted meal plans where you could draw inspiration from.

Here is the link to iftar meal plans 2014:
http://www.nestle-family.com/My-Ramadan/english/recipes.aspx



Some of the recipes include pasta with lentils, an orange and chocolate tart and a pomegranate and date drink.

Hope this provides inspiration for some of your meals!

Do's and Dont's of Ramadan - Part 1

Ramadan: A month in which God multiplies our good deeds, forgives us and blesses us! 'O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint'  [Quran 2:183] This month is VERY precious for us Muslims; we cannot afford to waste a single minute. Narrated Abu Huraira(r.a): The Prophet said:"... whoever fasts during Ramadan out of sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah's rewards, then all his past sins will be forgiven." (Sahih Al-Bukhari). "Fasting is a shield with which a servant protects himself from the Fire." [Ahmad, Saheeh] Here are a few Do's and Don'ts, of which some you may not know and some that you may but shaytaan our ultimate enemy has made you forget!

Dont's of Ramadan

Use websites like Jamattimes.com to help keep track of prayer times Missing Prayers Salah (prayers) are the second pillar of Islam. It comes before Saum (fasting). It's OBLIGATORY on all Muslims and your saum is incomplete without Salah! ACTION: Pray 5 times a day understanding its importance and realizing that it is God you are standing in front of. This will not only help you with your abstaining from food but also from sins as the one who is busy remembering to keep his prayers doesn’t have time to commit sins!

The Eye Looking at a non-mehram (any person with whom marriage is allowed in Islam) is NOT allowed! A Muslim should lower his/her gaze at all times where possible this will protect you from going towards that which displeases Allah. AVOID: * Eye contact with non-mahrams * Staring at the pictures in newspapers/magazines * TV - we stare at the TV without realizing the sinful images that are infront of us which we feel are normal. These things affect your desires (even if its subconsciously) and entices you towards acting on these desires. INSTEAD: Read Quran/observe nature and say Subhaan Allah!(All praise to Allah) Use the opportunity to learn and understand how amazing nature and the world around you is, you can quite easily busy yourself in getting to know your Lord through the amazing creation he puts in front of us.

The Ear Quit music or try refraining from it INSTEAD: switch to Tafsir of Quran Recitation of Quran Nasheeds  CD's of Islamic lectures etc

The Tongue Back biting is considered a extremely sinful act It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Do you know what gheebah (backbiting) is?” They said, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “Saying something about your brother that he dislikes.” It was said, “What if what I say about my brother is true?” He said, “If what you say is true then you have backbitten about him, and if it is not true, then you have slandered him.” [Muslim] It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever has wronged his brother with regard to his honour or anything else, let him seek his forgiveness today, before there will be no dinar and no dirham, and if he has any good deeds to his credit they will be taken from him in a manner commensurate with the wrong he did, and if he has no good deeds, then some of his counterpart’s bad deeds will be taken and added to his burden.” [al-Bukhaari]. So if you think that talking on the phone or meeting friends might result in back biting then avoid it. *Abusive language: When you abuse someone it doesn't harm him, it just adds to your sins! God hates people who abuse, so don't use it even if you don't mean it! Narrated on the authority of Jabir that he heard the (Holy Prophet) say: A Muslim is he from whose hand and tongue the Muslim's are safe. *Be VERY careful how you use your tongue, hurting some one with your words, is DEEPER and STRONGER than physical pain! INSTEAD: Tell people about Islam. It is obligatory on us to spread the word of Allah, as we are the Ummah of the last Prophet. Keep good company of those who remind you of Allah. Attend the masjid or Islamic events to be in an environment which people are remembering Allah.

The Hand

Don't get into fights, stay away and if you get into one and lose your temper, practice patience (sabr) and walk away.

Narated By Abu Huraira : The Prophet said, "Whoever does not give up forged speech and evil actions, Allah is not in need of his leaving his food and drink ( i.e. Allah will not accept his fasting.)" – [Sahih Bukhari, Vol.3, Book 31, #127]

People will probably think you're a coward, but God thinks you're a lion!

Look out for part 2 on DO's in Ramadan.
Source: email from http://www.alfitrah.com/

Ramadan Mubarak + Ramadan Action Plan 2014

Asalaamu alaykum, the month of ramadan is finally here! I hope you all have a productive and spiritual month in which you become closer to Allah. insh'Allah.

I received my copy of the Ramadan Action Plan and it looks fantastic so far. There is a daily checklist which helps you to organise your day as well as daily tips, a deed of the day for you to complete and a dua and ahadith. What I really like about this is that you can learn the 99 names of Allah as the plan breaks the names up so you learn a few every day. There is also a poster of the full 99 names which you can tick off as you learn.

You're allowed to set personal goals which you wish to achieve during the month and use this to fill in a post ramadan reflection. There is even a chart to tick off the 6 fasts of shawal.
You can subscribe to download the action plan here: http://www.ramadanactionplan.com/
Best of all it's free and you can have a portable copy on your phone or print out a copy.

Ramadan kareem!

Iftar

Strawberry and banana fruit salad

Pakora and lamb samosas

Lamb Stuffed Peppers with mashed potato and mixed olives

What did you have for iftar?

Borek

Here is my recipe for borek stuffed with feta, spinach and potato. Great for iftar with a salad.

Delicious meal idea for ramadan: Spinach and feta borek. Yum!

Ingredients:

Puff pastry or filo pastry

Potato (large)

Feta 1 - 1 and 1/2 block

Cheddar Cheese 100g

Spinach leaves (or if using frozen, saute with onion)

Onion x 1

Chilli flakes x 1/2 tsp

Paprika x 1tsp

Black pepper x 1/4 tsp

Olive oil

Egg x5

Butter

Yogurt

Method:

• Take pastry out of fridge/freezer to thaw

• Chop and boil the potato in salted water.

• Meanwhile, sauté an onion with some olive oil.

• Once boiled, drain and roughly chop into smaller pieces and add the onion, feta, spinach leaves and season with black pepper, paprika and chilli flakes. No need to put salt as the cheese contains salt. Taste to see if it’s okay and then add 4 eggs and combine.

• Make a mixture of egg, yogurt and melted butter to brush between layers if using filo pastry (if you’re using puff pastry you will not need this step)

• Brush a baking tray with butter.

• Add first sheet of filo and brush with yogurt, butter and egg mixture. Repeat until half of the filo sheets have been used up.

• Add the filling and spread.

• Grate some cheddar cheese if you like your borek cheesy (or if you just like cheese).

• Place a sheet of filo on top and brush with yogurt, butter and egg mixture. Repeat until all of the filo sheets have been used up. Add a bit of extra egg/melted butter on top of the last sheet and place in oven until golden brown.

Iftar Meal Plans 2013

Salaam, I hope that Ramadan is going well for you all insha Allah.
Last year I posted a link to ramadan recipes from the Nestle website.
Here is the link: http://www.nestle-family.com/my-ramadan/english/recipes.aspx
Here are just a few of the recipes featured: Red pepper pasta, Potato and Lamb Kibbeh, Light basbousa with almond.

Ramadan Mubarak

Ramadan Mubarak everyone!!

May Allah grant us the tawfeeq  to exert our efforts in this blessed month. May we use each moment  productively and may this be our best Ramadan ever. Ameen.

QOTD: Laylat-ul Qadr

“Lailatul Qadr is better than a thousand months” [97:3]

Aisha (Ra) said: “I asked the Messenger of Allah: 'O Messenger of Allah, if I know what night is the night of Qadr, what should I say during it?' He said: 'Say: O Allah, You are pardoning and You love to pardon, so pardon me.''

"Allahumma innaka 'afuwwun tuhibbul 'afwa fa'fu 'annee" 

 (Ahmad, Ibn Majah, and Tirmidhi).

QOTD: Qur'an and Ramadhan

“The fast and the Qur’an are two intercessors for the servant of Allah on the Day of Resurrection. The fast will say: ‘O Lord, I prevented him from his food and desires during the day. Let me intercede for him.’ The Qur’an will say: ‘I prevented him from sleeping at night. Let me intercede for him.’ And their intercession will be accepted.” (Ahmad)


‘It will be said to the companion of the Qur'an after he has entered Paradise, 'Recite, and rise!' For every verse he recites he will rise one level (in Paradise), until he recites the last verse with him.’ (Abu Dawud)

Daily Ramadhan Recipes from Nestlé!

Salaams all, inshaAllah ramadhan is going well for you all thus far.

I just stumbled across this Nestlé site (see link below) that has iftar ideas for every day of ramadhan! You get ideas for starters, salads, main course and dessert! Recipes include eggplant moussaka, date cake, chocolate cake, fattoush, tabbouleh, Kuwaiti biryani, meat and vegatable rolls/pastries.
They also have tips and nutritional information on one of the ingredients featured for that day.

Eggplant Lasagna from Nestlé website

Berry Cheesecake (Nestlé)

Watermelon Milshake (Nestlé)

http://www.nestle-family.com/my-ramadan/english/recipes.aspx

Wishing you and your family the blessings of Ramadhan.

Ramadhan Mubarak !