Ramadan food traditions from Canadian chefs: La mousse, fattoush, halva and more
For the many Muslims in Canada who will be welcoming the month of Ramadan on Thursday, June 18, fasting and self-reflection during the holy month is of primary importance. But as Salima Jivraj, founder of North America's largest halal food festival -Halal Food Festival Toronto - tells me, food also plays a vital role. Fasting takes place during daylight, which can be upwards of 16 hours when Ramadan falls over summer months, as it does this year. But when the fast is broken at sunset, meals are festive and often shared with friends and family.
The two main meals eaten during Ramadan are suhoor and iftar, with the former taking place prior to the fast and the latter upon breaking the fast in the evening. Traditionally, iftar starts with drinking water and eating dates but the rest of the meal varies according to cultural heritage - from South Asian samosas and kothu parotta (chopped flat bread stir fry), to Indonesian banana fritters (pisang goreng; recipe follows) and Lebanese spiced potatoes (batata harra; recipe follows).
It's this diversity in Canada's Muslim and halal food culture that makes it so special. "I'm from South Asian descent and of course you have Middle Eastern Muslims, South Asian Muslims, but I really learned a lot about the community," Jivraj says in an interview. "There's such a big Malaysian population here. The Somalian community is another massive community. Then there are Bosnian, Syrian, and Chinese Muslims; there is so much diversity."
In putting together Halal Food Festival Toronto, now in its third year, it's this wide variety that she and her team endeavoured to showcase. They made the decision to make the festival non-political, and although halal food is based on a religious concept, they created a celebration of food rather than an explicitly religious festival. "We just want everyone to come and have a good time, and I think that helps break barriers down and gets us all together. Because we don't usually have this much community spirit," she says with a laugh.
Chef Russell Auckbaraullee, a vendor at the 2015 festival in May and owner of Penthouse Catering, says that for him, the rapid growth of Canada's halal food scene is inspiring. "I'm Mauritian; I'm half French, half Indian. This is something I wish I had grown up with," he says. "This is the best time to be, because growing up, all we had was what mom and dad made. So it's just amazing now. Every year, everyone's pushing the envelope and pushing it to say, 'Let's do something different.'" Auckbaraullee tells me that the one dish he always looks forward to during Ramadan is a Mauritian Jell-O-type dessert his mother made, called La Mousse (recipe follows). "It's a treat after you've fasted all day," he says. "You make it out of China grass [agar], put it in the fridge, let it chill just like Jell-O and that's it. It's really easy."
Pastry chef and instructor Fereshteh Keshavarz, who judged the festival's pastry competition, also looks forward to sweets when breaking the fast. Keshavarz likes to make a simple Iranian dessert during Ramadan - halva (recipe follows). "It's very popular among Muslims," Keshavarz tells me. "We have our way to make halva, and other cultures have their own ways but it's almost the same thing. It's made of flour, sugar of course, saffron and rose water, and it's very delicious. You have to try it."
Simplicity is key when cooking for Ramadan, as is preparing dishes ahead of time Jivraj says. "I learned a lot from my mother-in-law and my mother; they pre-make a lot," she says. "I remember being with my mother-in-law and we would make 500 samosas in a day and freeze them, and then that's our Ramadan prep." Trying new or complicated dishes while you're fasting can be tricky with no taste testing during daylight hours. For this reason, Jivraj picks simple dishes that leave little room for error, such as the globally-inspired recipes from her Halal Foodie Magazine she shares below.
"In the summer months, my favourite thing to enjoy [when breaking the fast] is a drink," Jivraj says. "I love falooda (recipe follows). It's a drink made from a type of rose essence and it's really cooling and refreshing. It's rose-flavoured with pistachios and semolina noodles but I make it as a bubble tea with tapioca pearls, and crushed ice and ice cream. I have to have it at least every other day." Auckbaraullee also enjoys a Mauritian version of falooda, called alouda, which his mother would grate pieces of her La Mousse into.
Chef Haifa Zeitoun (formerly of Levant Restaurant), tells me that fattoush is at the centre of her family's Ramadan table. "I'm Jordanian and Palestinian; as a Mediterranean, the most important dish for us is fattoush," she says of the Levantine bread salad. "We start with soup and fattoush, and after that we eat anything from kibbeh to samosas. We add sumac to the fattoush. It's a little bit sour and everyone tries the fattoush with the sumac on top with fried pita bread. It's amazing."
The author was the guest of Halal Food Festival Toronto, which didn't review or approve this article before publication.
LA MOUSSE
(Mauritian Jell-O)
A popular dessert during Ramadan in Mauritius.
Recipe courtesy of Russell Auckbaraullee, Penthouse Catering.
1 pineapple (coconut is a great alternative)
4 sheets of agar (a.k.a China grass or Indian gelatin)
50 g caster (superfine) sugar
1 vanilla pod
2 cups (500 ml) water
custard, to serve (buy or make)
1. Dice and blend the pineapple, setting some slices aside for garnish.
2. Soften the gelatin sheets in cold water.
3. Stir 2 cups (500 ml) water together with sugar and vanilla (pod and seeds) in a saucepan, and heat over a low heat to make a syrup.
4. Add the pineapple pulp and boil for 15 minutes.
5. Incorporate the gelatin and allow it to thicken over a low heat.
6. Remove the vanilla pod, and pour the mixture into a loaf tin and let cool in the fridge for 2 hours.
7. Take the mousse out, garnish with slices of pineapple and serve with custard.
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