KITCHEN COUNSELOR
Traditional spicy beef-filled samosas kick off first day of Ramadan.
According to my calendar, today is the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, a month when Muslims all over the world fast from dawn to dusk – keeping away not only from foods and drinks but, equally importantly, from all sinful deeds such as harming others, backbiting, lying and cheating, as well as focusing on the remembrance of God and mankind’s spiritual aspects.
The goal is to purify one’s body as well as the soul, and feel the sufferings of the less fortunate by voluntarily feeling the pangs of hunger and thirst even though you could afford the finest of foods and drinks. In the Quran, Allah ridicules and curses those who feign piety but do not take care of the poor and needy, or the even the legitimate rights of one’s neighbors.
Regretfully, I or my wife, Kaisari, cannot keep the fast on health and age issues, and we have dispensation for it. But we fully follow the sanctity of the month in all other respects, including the giving of charity. Physical fasting is only part of the observance, albeit an important part.
And the command is to continue to follow this path of piety for a full Islamic lunar month, which can have either 29 or 30 days. The expectation is that perchance this soul-searching can become a pattern and a habit for the other 11 months of the year. Research confirms that one needs at least three weeks of practice to adapt to a new norm.
This month is also holy for Muslims because this was the month when the Quran, the Muslim holy book, was revealed some 1,400 years ago. In addition to practicing personal piety, Islamic religious edicts also forbid any fighting or warfare and calls Ramadan a month of peace. By their words and deeds, however, the perverted “jihadists” are twisting and trashing God’s commands in this book as well as in the precepts of His prophet, Muhammad, peace be upon him.
Even through all these turmoil, however, the glory of Ramadan is still shining in the homes and bazaars of the Islamic world as well as in the homes and mosques of the millions of Muslims who are now an integral part of the Western world, including the United States.
In addition to the rites and prayers that this month involves, special foods and drinks have always been an essential part of the mystic of Ramadan. Through more than 14 centuries, the rigors of this month have spawned a vast variety of foods and drinks, mostly ethnic and regional, across the vast and varied panoply of the Muslim lands. Season has played a role too. The Islamic calendar slides 11 days back every year in relation to the Western-seasonal one, so that Ramadan can be in December or in May too. A full rotation takes just over 33 years.
I am more than half way through the third cycle.
With no water or any other drinks allowed in the hot daylight hours, the need for rehydration has played a big role in the evolution of Ramadan specialties. Although I cannot observe the fast now, I still fondly remember reaching for the tall glass of lassi (a yogurt drink) as the cannon went off in the distance and the muezzin in the neighborhood mosque called for the evening prayers over loud speakers, signifying sunset.
Those were the good old days, growing up in a far-off city on the eastern end of India, when the world and I were young and the future beckoned, despite the fact that Europe and the Pacific were reeling from the aftermath of the war, and ominous clouds of an epic communal pogrom were gathering on the horizon of the subcontinent. Ramadan was always a time of peace and compassion, though.
Here is one of our favorite Ramadan snacks. In our family, as in most families from the Indian subcontinent, samosa plays a starring role on the Iftar table. It is a kind of triangular turnover with either meat or potato filling. Traditionally, the pastry wrapping is rich and homemade, but the store-bought empanada discs, available in most supermarket freezer cases, work admirably. Here is Kaisari’s recipe. Kitchen Counselor is a weekly column about kitchen and cooking tips written by Gholam Rahman, a former staff writer for The Palm Beach Post. To reach him, email gholam_rahman@ pbpost.com