First Day of Ramadan

Yesterday was the first day of Ramadan in Bangladesh and I’d been cranky all day. First, I had to wake up at 4am to drink a glass of water (I don’t eat Sehri - the pre-sunrise meal, but my Mom absolutely insists that I have to take something), and then had trouble falling asleep. Second, my stomach doesn’t yet know it’s Ramadan and had been growling (sometimes embarrassingly loudly) since noon. Third, I’d been thinking all day about what I would eat for Iftar (the meal with which we break the fast) and berating myself simultaneously for having such un-Ramadan-like thoughts.

I stopped at a couple of restaurants on my way home and bought more food than we could possibly eat in one meal. My excuse (to myself) was that we were going to have a guest for Iftar. It was also convenient to pretend temporary amnesia - you see, I had instructed the cook to prepare a number of items before I left for work in the morning.

So, all in all, this is what the Iftar table carried:

Chilled lemonade (it looked great and tasted even better!!!)

Ajwa Dates - from the Prophet Muhammad’s ((PBUH) own gardens (we bought these from Saudi Arabia). A fasting body benefits from the date's high level of natural sugars. Dates are also high in vitamins A and B6, folic acid, and a number of minerals. Eating dates is like taking a daily dose of natural multivitamin.

Fresh cucumber slices - another thirst quencher. Cucumber has a high mineral content - ideal for a starving body.

Sliced Orange - the Vitamin C rush!

Chhola (cooked chick peas).

Piyaju (deep fried mashed lentil and onion patties).

Beguni (batter fried aubergines) - my favourite!

Muri (puffed rice) - an Iftar staple.

Mutton Haleem - meat cooked with a wheat/lentil mix.

Vegetable Khichuri (rice and moong dal with carrot and potato).

Grilled Chicken.

Crunchy Jalebis - deep friend flour and curd batter. They just melt in your mouth!

Mitha Tukda - bread slices in thickened milk with almond and pistachio.

and Birthday Pastry!!

Number of Iftar items: 14. Number of people eating this Iftar: 4.

Did I eat all that? Of course not!! But I really do need to practice not being so easily tempted - especially during Ramadan.