The grand Iftar feast

Chennai: 

The best way to probably enjoy the iftar food is to indulge in a traditional, home-cooked meal. Here we share a few handpicked recipes.

Nombu kanji and pudhina chutney is the staple iftar feast in our house during all the 30 days of Ramzan. There are different versions of kanji. Sometimes we make a vegetarian version, other times just add in minced chicken or meat to pack in some extra taste and nutrition. This is my grandmother’s and she’s been making it for 50 years.

NOMBU KANJI 

Ingredients:

Basmati rice (ground coarsely): ¼ kg 

Moong dhal: 50gms 

Ginger garlic paste: 1tbsp 

Raw rice powder: 1 tbsp 

Cardamom and cinnamon stick: 2 pieces each of cloves, 

Sliced thinly: 2 big onions 

Chopped roughly: 2 tomatoes 

Each of mint and coriander leaves: 1 1/2tbsp 

Green chillies: 3 nos 

Each of ghee and oil: 1 tbsp 

Coconut paste: ¼ cup 

Water: 2 litres 

Salt to taste 

Method:

• Soak the rice for 10-15 mins. 
• Heat ghee and oil in a deep pan on a medium flame, add in the whole spices and let it turn red. Add in the onions, fry till translucent and add in the moong dhal and saute until it turns golden. 
• Now fry the ginger-garlic paste until the raw smell goes and add in the mint and coriander leaves, green chillies, tomatoes and sauté till tomatoes turn mushy. 
• Pour about two litres of water and let it come to a boil. Then add the soaked rice and salt to taste.
• Stir well and let it cook. Once rice is fully done add in the raw rice powder, coconut paste and let it come to a boil. 
• If the kanji is a little thick, add 1-2 glasses of warm water and adjust the salt.
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve warm with spicy and tangy pudhina chutney.

PUDHINA CHUTNEY 

Ingredients:

Coriander and mint leaves: 2 handfuls each

Shallots: ¼ cup

Scraped coconut: ¼ cup

Green chillies: 2 

Tamarind: ¼ of the size of lemon 

Salt to taste

Method:

• Grind all the ingredients mentioned together into a coarse chutney.

Recipe: Famitha Yusuff, Owner of Fam’s Cake Art. Facebook page www.facebook.com/FAMS-CAKE-ART

While iftar feast is usually grand for many, I try to keep it simple with some biriyani, kebabs and some filling and nutritious beverages. Among the various kebabs , we make, chapli kebab is easy and tastes absolutely delicious. You can cook these in a non-stick pan or you can make long kebabs on skewers and grill them for an extra charcoal flavour. Serve with walnut chutney.

CHAPLI KEBAB

Ingredients:

Mutton, minced fine: 200 gms 

Salt to taste 

Fried onion paste: 1 tsp 

Coriander leaves, chopped: Handful 

Lime juice: 1tsp 

Green cardamom powder: 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds, crushed: 1.5 tsp

Dried pomegranate seeds crushed: 1 tsp 

Oil for frying

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients except oil in a bowl and refrigerate for two hours.
• Take it out and shape them into patties. Fry well.
• If you find them breaking add some flour like besan (gram flour) and fry.

Recipe: Tasneem Ayub, Proprietor, Tasneem Ayub’s Ammees Kitchen. Facebook page www.facebook.com/AmmeesKitchen

Nothing like a rich and tantalising plate of steaming hot haleem and a scoop of khubani ka meetha to break the fast. Both these dishes are Hyderabadi in origin but have really caught on in a big way in the city. I teach these version of the popular dishes in my culinary classes.

HYDERABADI HALEEM 

Ingredients:

Boneless mutton: 500 grams 

Ginger garlic paste: 2 tsp 

Shahi jeera: ½ tsp

Cloves: 5 

Cinnamon sticks: 2 

Cardamom: 2 

Star anise: 3

White pepper corns: ½ tsp

Green chillies: 3 

Cashew nut paste: 25 grams 

A handful of coriander leaves 

Oil: 5 tbsp 

For step 2

Broken samba wheat: 250 grams (soaked) 

Water: 1 ½ litres (7 cups) 

For step 3 

Uradh dhal: 25 gram 

Chana dhal: 25 grams 

Water: 400 ml (2 cups) 

Onion: 2 (sliced, fried) 

A handful for coriander leaves 

Lemon, cut into pieces: 2 

Butter or ghee: 4 tbsp 

Salt to taste

Method:

• Dry roast shahi jeera , cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, star anise and whole pepper corns. Grind to a powder.
• Now, in a pressure cooker add boneless pieces of mutton, add in the ginger garlic paste, ground powder, green chilies, cashew nut paste, coriander leaves, oil, salt and pressure cook for 30 mins.
• Once done, mash and set aside.
• Now, in another cooker, pressure cook the broken wheat with 7 cups water for 30 mins. Mash again and set aside. 
• Then, pressure cook both the dhals together with water for 20 mins. Once done mash and set aside. 
• In the final step, mix the mashed mutton, broken wheat, dhal and keep cooking the mixture on low flame for an hour. 
• Once done, serve hot and garnish with fried onions, chopped coriander leaves, lime and ghee.

KHUBANI KA MEETHA

Ingredients:

Apricots: 250 grams

Sugar: 125 grams 

Water: 700 ml (500 ml + 200 ml)

Fresh cream: 200 ml 

Almonds for garnishing

Methods:

• Soak the apricot overnight in 500 ml water.
• Deseed the apricots.
• In a saucepan, pour 200 ml water, add sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves. 
• Now add in the apricots and stew for 20-25 minutes on low flame. 
• Once done, remove from flame and bring it to room temperature and refrigerate. 
• Finally, top with fresh cream and garnish with chopped almonds. Serve cold.