Iftar spiced with Sri Lankan hospitality 2 iftars to try tabloid!
Atraditional Sri Lankan iftar party began at the villa apartment of Fatima Naziha where around 20 of her family friends and relatives had gathered to end their fast in congregation.
Some four women and a housemaid were busy in the kitchen preparing an array of Sri Lankan traditional dishes and snacks which range from falooda, pakoras, rolls to kanji, fish cutlets, patties, egg rolls, fruit salads and juices. All were prepared with traditional spices, coconut and home-made coconut milk.
Kanji, a wheat-and-meat-based porridge, is a popular Sri Lankan meal served across the country during Ramadan.
Humbleness and simplicity were visible everywhere. As iftar time approached, other women friends extended help and started spreading a big plastic sheet on the floor.
When all foodstuffs were laid on the iftar sheet, all people including children calmly settled down around it to end their fast. Each person passed the foodstuff for others.
“We love congregational iftar with our country fellows because we are away from home and miss, mostly importantly, the parents and relatives and also our traditional dishes. But Ramadan blesses us to get together and end our fast,” said Naziha who has been living in Abu Dhabi for the past three years with her seven-year-old daughter, Imna Mohammad, a Grade 2 student of International Indian School in Baniyas. Her husband resides in Europe.
“As a working woman, I would say Ramadan is much easier in the UAE than in other countries because of the reduced work hours and supportive environment for fasting people,” said Naziha, who works as a relationship manager.
“After finishing my job at 3pm, I rush home to prepare for iftar. Since I have got a maid, I don’t have to get involved in cooking all the time, but I have to help in selecting the correct mix of ingredients and in some preparations.
“Ramadan is about sharing, caring and togetherness, so we invite family friends, relatives and people from the Sri Lankan community each weekend,” she said.
“Our food is entirely different from what we have in this region. You may find rolls, samosas and fish cutlets here too, but ingredients and spices in our dishes are different, while our kanji is very similar to shorba, which Arabs make. The authentic Sri Lankan cuisine uses certain spices and coconut milk,” Naziha said.
“Here, we have all luxuries in life but I miss my parents and extended family members and, of course, the foods cooked by my mother.”
Naziha’s daughter Imna was busy chatting with other children who had gathered at the flat. “I like meeting and talking to them,” Imna said, adding she preferred friends over the food during occasions like the iftar gathering or family get-togethers.
A family friend of Naziha, Vinothiny Fatima, said, “It feels like we are in Sri Lanka as a number of family friends have gathered here to end the fast. Our relatives and friends back home are the only ones we miss here.
“The most important traditional food for us in Ramadan is kanji. Every home in Sri Lanka serves it. Even mosques across Sri Lanka distribute it for free to people.
“Ramadan is a special month, which teaches us to stay calm, do good to others, control your anger and feel the pain of others and help them. It’s a monthlong training for us on how to lead our life throughout the year, not only for a month.”
Naziha’s brother, Mohammad Nawheed, 27, lives in Dubai but visits her sister on weekends to spend quality time with the family.
Nawheed said, “The most pleasing and refreshing time is when family and friends get together particularly when you are in a foreign land where you rarely find a person from your own country to interact. Such gatherings give us immense pleasure.” Like others, kanji is his favourite dish too. “We like spicy food as well but the spices are different and the method of preparation and mixture make our dishes unique. You will find samosa, pakora, rolls and meat and chicken dishes everywhere but our spices make it different,” said Nawheed who works as a relationship officer in Citibank. He has been living in the UAE for eight years.