A Ramadan Feast

This is the start of the holy month of Ramadan, a time of fasting and introspection. Yet it's also a time fo feasting between the fasting.This dinner iftar is not only shared with family but with community. No one understasnds this more than the SOmali community and their array of dishes.

First time contributor and chef Ifrah F. Ahmed wrote about Somali Ramadan cooking in yesterday's New York Times Food section.Somali cooking is special. As Chef Ahmed writes "henna stained finger fill and fold sabuus,a kind of samosa and then fried.There ares weet and tender buns to eat before sunrise and after sunset. There are dishes to share as friends and family compliment each other on their new holiday clothes and make sure everybody is well fed. The dishes are varied in tastes and flavors sambuus are easy to make. This samosa cousin uses tortilla s the flaky golden outside to a filling rich with garlic, cumin and coriander. Ground beef and onion make up the stuffing while cilantro gives them color.They're served with a the hot sauce basbaas cagaar, a green hot sauce. Chopped jalapeno peppers are mixed with serrano chiles and spiked up even more with garlic and white onions. To off ser the fiery taste, white vinegar and lemon juice is added.

For a more soothing dish, Somalians eat soor, a comforting hot stew of grits and tomatoes.Soor is white cornmeal cooked with salt while the tomato mix or Dalac Bilaash is mixed into it. This is first taking onions and cooking them in olive oil. Roma tomatoes and jalapenos are added to this. There is also garlic and cilantro added.They're ground into a chunky paste before, using a mortar and pestle.This is added to the tomaotes along with Vegeta, an additive that has an array of spices and herbs in it. Chopped green peppers finish it off. The soor is divided into plates and  topped with the dalac bilaash. To offset all this fieriness bake Rooti Farmaajo or honeycomb sweet rolls. These can be served before sunrise and also be bakedall year round. These are stuffed with a mild cheese like Laughing Cow and drizzled with condensed milk and shredded coconut.I'ts a yeast dough  that can be flavored with cardamon .The dough is  rolled and cut into balls, stuffed in the cheese and then press them togehter like monkey bread in a springform pan.It's brushed with an egg wash baked at 350 degrees Farebheit and then cooled. Condensed milk is drizzled on top an then gets a dusitn gof the shredded coconut.

Ramadan is a time for reflection community and fasting. It is also a time of all night feasts. The Somalis share and celebate theirs with delicious food and valued friends and family.

A Thoughtful Good Friday

This Good Friday is one where we are all thoughtful and prayerful. Our minds and hearts along with our souls  are with those who are sick with the Covid-19 virus along with those with other illnesses. Our thoughts and prayers are also those on the front lines too. If you want to do a good deed this Easter season along then donate food, whether pizzas, doughnuts or sandwiches to our brave doctors and nurses.  Do the same too  for Passover and Ramadam too. Be grateful for these healthcare professionals  who are giving up their holidays for us.  Thank those cashiers and food stockers at your grocery stores. They too are on the front lines as our the truckers, farmers, produce pickers and food plant workers.

This is the day to be thoughtful. Think of what you can do for your community. Sew masks, Donate food. Treat workers to a much needed slice of pizza or cup of coffee. Pray for an end to this, where everyone emerges happy and healthy.

Holidays In The Time Of Hardship

With April comes holidays along with the foods and traditions that shape them. Yet how can we celebrate together when we're so far apart? That's a good question with several answers.

Priya Krishna wrote extensively about this in today's New York Times Food section, Luckily we have Zoom and Skype so there can be virtual Seders, and Easter dinners along with Persian New Year and Ramadam. Rabbi Doug Kahn,a Reform rabbi in San Francisco is doing a virtual Seder this Passover with his wife Ellen. The group has been asked to email each other their favorite holiday recipes so they're all on the same page . The hardest part, however, is the afikoman , the piece of matzo that's usually hidden in the house for children to find.Rabbi Kahn will carry his computer through his house, going through each room. People have to guess where the piece is hidden. The same can be done for Easter, Families can have virtual brunches or dinners together. They can even make candy together as Marley Griggey of Cincinnati , Ohio is doing with her family members. This is a family tradition this graduate student will pass down to her own young children. Her husband, Phill, who works overnight at Target, also helps in getting the traditional ham and eggs both hard to get right now both for cooking and dying.

The Persian New Year  or Nowruz is also very big. It is a time when there ceremonial dishes to be cooked and shared. It's in full swing right now , starting on March 19th. It's a thirteen day celebration where people throw parties and set up haft-sins. This is a collection of seven items like garlic and vinegar that symbolize hope for the new year along with dishes such as sabzi polo ba mahi, fish with herbed rice. Katayoun Kishi, an Iranian living in Atlanta had to pare down her festivities. Her haft sin had to be cut down because of shortages and there were no sweets because the bakeries were shut down. As for Ramadam, many of the dinners have been cancelled. Hassan Chami, a Detroit pharmacist  and owner of the restaurant Terry Melt,usually runs the Ramadam Food Festival, an event where there are forty vendors including himself. It's where the city's sizable Muslim population communally breaks their fast. The vent has to be cancelled but the money he donated is going to local hospitals to buy much needed supplies. along with giving free food away to hospital workers.

This year follow these examples to make the best of your holidays and holy days. It will be different but still celebratory. Make it a tasty one , still full of good memories.