Suhoor Wars

In every Muslim culture there are certain foods used for suhoor, (early breakfast before fasting) whose nutritious value and satiability people swear by. Our editors too have their own opinions about it. They also jumped on the bandwagon and decided to compare two food options. One of the options is common breakfast staple among North American while other option is unheard of as a breakfast. Suhoor is the main meal of Ramadan, not only is it a sunnah, it has many benefits other than filling you up for the day. A nutritious meal at the start of the day can save you a lot of dismay including being “Hangry”. One of our editors swore by the filling and satiating ability of bagels while the other thinks there are other more filling options available and are convenient too. As part of the North America we live in, we have to face long winter nights to long summer days. As Ramadan dates change by around ten days per year, this calculation makes Ramadan fall in every month of the year in around thirty-six years time. This makes practically opening fast in summer at 10:30 pm while eating early suhoor at 4 am. This leaves us vulnerable to an extremely long fast for which we need to be well nourished for the whole day. Since days are long, we must have nutritious food in suhoor and Iftar to continue the work of the day as well as into the night. Food also shouldn’t affect us negatively in that we feel drowsy for nightly prayers. Bagel was an excellent contender with respect to other breakfast options like paratha, waffles, pancakes, bread and croissants for its excellent ability to fill our stomach and to not feel hungry or weak for a long time. Our editors swear by the fact that suhoor with bagels stays until noon, but others do not fully agree. For staying in the stomach for a long time the victory goes to: “Haleem” which is a popular South-Asian dish. Haleem’s non-spicy Middle Eastern counterpart is “Mujadara” while its African counterpart is “Harira” and “Harees” a dish staple to Arab countries of the Persian Gulf as well as the Indian subcontinent. This dish provides a slow releasing mixture of complex carbohydrates, meat and spices, which stay for a long time in the body and provide energy throughout the day. This dish can be filling as is, but, if you like to add some bread or eggs or bagel or milk to the mix, you can easily do it. It is more filling, and keeps you going for a while and will not let hunger grip you until iftar. This is a Haleem recipe shared to me by my friend Nayyer. Try this recipe next Ramadan or if you’re doing Nafl fasts and keep us in your duas. Haleem Recipe · Meat 1.5 kg boneless · Yogurt 2 cups · Qorma masala · Extra spices: Salt, to taste, red chilli pepper, 1-2 tsp, turmeric 1tsp, garlic ginger paste 4tbsp · Barley whole ½ cup · Whole wheat ½ cup · Lentils: Maash 2 tbsp, Moong 2 tbsp, Masoor 2 tbsp · Rice 2 tbsp · Oats 2 tbsp Method: · Wash all the lentils and soak it overnight · Cook it with 3 times more water than lentils · When cook thoroughly blend it with hand blender · Cook meat with qorma masala recipe adding some of your spices , until tender enough to fall of a bone · Blend meat with hand blender · Mix meat and lentils together blend it again · Cook it for 2 ½ hours · If Haleem is not thick enough add some rolled oats and cook it further until desired consistency has reached · Serve it with chopped cilantro, chopped green chillies, , chaat masala and julienned ginger.