Fatima Muhammad

Saudi Gazette



 

A TRADITION that all Saudis are united in observing on their dining table in Ramadan is breaking fast with dates.



Saudis follow the teachings of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) by breaking their fast with 1, 3, 5 or 7 dates before they move on to any other dish served on the table.



While dates remain a must on the iftar table, the traditional serving of them differ from one region to another.



In Madinah, dates are served with cream, in Makkah with Zamzam, in Riyadh they are served with Arabic coffee, and in Asir dates are served with fat, honey, and Magloutha, which is a mixture of flour and milk.



In Asir, the traditional bread baked in special ovens is served with honey and fat immediately at sunset. The main meal remains Haniz, which is meat served on top of well-done rice.



To cook Haniz, coal is prepared in a grand hole in the ground, then a pot full of rice and water is placed in the middle of the hole, on top of it another pot with small holes making it possible for the meat juice to leak into rice pot and help flavor it.



Other famous food that is popular in Asir till date with some changes added to it nowadays is Arika.



To make a traditional Arika smashed dates is added to flour and mixed and cooked together properly. After forming a paste they are shaped in a round manner placed on a plate and served with butter and honey.



Modern Arika, however, has cheddar cheese, cream and butter, and to make things easy people also use readymade brown bread instead of raw flour. To overcome the heat and thirst during the day, people in the central region used to drink Al-Maris.



To make the drink, they place dates in water and leave it for sometime, the liquid is then separated from the dates and is drunk throughout the night. One of the popular main meals in the central region is Gursan.



Traditional Gursan is baked at homes. The dough of whole flour, water and salt is spread finely and baked. After that a sauce of meat is prepared and served on top of Gursan.



Nowadays Gursan is prebaked and served in supermarkets. People are serving it with their choice of meat, chicken and vegetables.



In the western region ful (smashed beans) has reserved its place in iftar meals for decades. Foul is served next to dates in every iftar meal across the region, and it is mainly bought from shops.



Another must in the region is samosa (dough traditionally filled with meat and onions). Families up till now cannot resist having a jar of Subya (barley and bread added to water left overnight, flavored with cardamom and cinnamon, cooled after adding sugar).



In Jeddah, thanks to its proximity to the Red Sea, the main dish that many families eat late at night is Sayadiya, which is rice cooked with fish and served hot and fresh.



The Makkawi people smash their rice and flavor it with fat, cardamom and Arabic gum and top it with meat, and this meal is known as Saleeg and is popular even among youth, who marinate the smashed rice with chili sauce.



In Al-Ahsa, people still love Haris. The meal is prepared over a period of three hours. Meat is cooked with spices in water on medium heat and then wheat seeds are added and mixed for at least three hours. The mixture is served with fat. Currently some families add onions, tomatoes, green pepper and butter.



Magshousha, a local name that is used in the northern region, especially in Hail, refers to dough that is cooked over special rounded tool placed over coal. The dough is turned into rounded bread, fine or thick, served with anything salty or sweet. A few people still follow this recipe, even though many have replaced Magshousha with regular bread.