How housewives plan, dish out the perfect Iftar
Ramadan is a month of blessings and mercy, and it brings Muslim families closer than before. In most homes, enjoying the iftar meal or breaking of the fast is a period of great delight as it gathers everyone in one place to enjoy the food after a day of fasting. The women in every household […]
Ramadan is a month of blessings and mercy, and it brings Muslim families closer than before. In most homes, enjoying the iftar meal or breaking of the fast is a period of great delight as it gathers everyone in one place to enjoy the food after a day of fasting. The women in every household strive to ensure that the meal comes out perfectly. Some are career women who after spending the day at work, still manage to ensure that everything is ready before the call to Maghrib prayers.
Preparation of the iftar is no easy task as it isn’t your basic everyday meal. The superwoman-like job comes with a routine, switching up the dishes, planning, execution and sometimes setbacks too. It is an entire process on its own. Various dishes and drinks are served after a tedious time in the kitchen. After speaking to a few women, we were able to get insight on how they go about planning the perfect iftar for their various families.
Umma Musa, a housewife, while relaying her daily iftar experiences, said “All my children are grown so they go to work and so does my husband. During the day, I’m left alone with just the house help. We’re a family of six so the portions of food I have to prepare aren’t exactly small. I always try my best to make sure that everything is ready before they get home because they start coming back about 15 minutes before it’s time to break the fast. Planning what to cook is quite easy because right before Ramadan commenced, I drew up a schedule with my family on what we’ll be eating each day of the week so I don’t have to bother myself each day with what I have to make. It’s stressful deciding,” she said.
“I just make sure I get to work early around 3pm with preparations -slicing and chopping the food, so when the time comes it’s quite easy. The hard part is having just two hands because there is so much to do under pressure and under a time frame. But somehow we always manage to pull it off. I love it when my family comes home and we dig into the meal and seeing them appreciative of what I have done. Eating together multiplies the blessing of the food. It is one of the main reasons why I love the month of Ramadan. It brings us all together unlike before fasting started.”
Fatima Ibrahim, says, “Well my family and I usually plan what we’d be breaking our fasts with a day before. We also try to avoid making any food that involves frying because it consumes a lot of time and isn’t healthy especially since you’re going to be eating it when your body has lost a lot of energy and nutrients and cholesterol levels shouldn’t be spiking. What I do is make foods that I usually make but sometime do a little extra to jazz up the meal. We use our grill a lot as an alternative to all the frying. Even the traditional kosai (bean cakes) and kunu, we have it once in a while.”
She also added that, “We are very light eaters so we don’t cook heavy meals. Doing all this relieves the stress of having to spend hours in front of a stove or in a hot kitchen. We make dishes like rice, chicken casserole, sandwiches with perhaps grilled potatoes and vegetables. We include a lot of vegetables in our iftar. Needless to say it is important. For drinks, it’s usually fruit juices and traditional drinks like tiger nut milk and zobo, nothing too spectacular and my family enjoys it. Then when we have guests I prepare something different since they are visitors.”
Another lady, Mrs. Hafsat Kabir, tells how easy and hassle free she finds making her iftar meal for her small family. “Planning and preparing my iftar is basically a piece of cake. I make the same dishes every day, I know how long it takes to make each and I know exactly how we like our food. Being in charge of food is simple once you know what you’re doing. I peel my potatoes right after Zuhr prayers, I put my meat for pepper soup on the stove, grind my tomatoes and peppers and basically just get them done with. Once it’s Asr I can then start frying the potatoes, preparing the kosai and kunu, then warm the pepper soup I made earlier and I sometimes even have time to start on the sahur meal. I organize everything so it all goes smoothly and according to plan. It is highly unpleasant to find yourself in the kitchen when it is time to break the fast so I make sure I do what I need to in good time so everything is ready, nice and hot when served at iftar.”
Rukaiya Yusuf shared what she goes through too. “I am a married woman engaged with both work at home and at the office. Taking care of my husband and kids hasn’t been easy especially in the evening since when I get home I have very little time to get the iftar meal all together. But being a woman, encountering impossible tasks is a must and we still find a way to do it well. Focusing on making iftar is something that I enjoy doing because of its bountiful blessings, peace and the harmony it brings into our lives. I come home after a hectic day and make up to five meals with as little as two hours on my hands. But then I organize my cooking activities by knowing what I’m preparing every day and stocking up on pre-prepared ingredients in my fridge like chopped up vegetables, blended tomatoes and peeled beans for kosai. The most important thing for me is ensuring that my family and I are well satisfied and happy after we break our fast.”