Seasons and holidays

Ramadan and Eid foods

During Ramadan, Muslims break the daily fast at sunset with iftar, often beginning with soups, dates and sweets. Eid al-Fitr then brings cookies, pastries and festive main dishes.

Knafeh
Kuwait
A cheese pastry soaked in syrup, served on special occasions, holidays and during Ramadan.
Knafeh (Arabic: كنافة) is a traditional Arab dessert made with kadayif (spun pastry dough) layered with cheese and soaked in a sweet, sugar-based syrup called attar. Knafeh is popular throughout the Arab world, especially Egypt and the Levant.
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Harira
Morocco
A hearty tomato and legume soup that is mostly served during Ramadan in Morocco.
Harira is a traditional North African soup prepared in Morocco and Algeria with many variations, the best-known being Moroccan harira. Harira is popular as a starter, and is also eaten on its own as a light snack.
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Kolak
Indonesia
A sweet coconut milk dessert popular for breaking the fast in Indonesia.
Kolak (or kolek) is an Indonesian sweet dessert based on palm sugar or coconut sugar, coconut milk, and pandanus leaf (P. amaryllifolius). A variation in which banana is added, is called kolak pisang or banana kolak.
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Güllaç
Turkey
A delicate rose-scented milk dessert layered with starch wafers, consumed especially during Ramadan in Turkey.
Güllaç is a Turkish dessert made with milk, rose water, pomegranate and a special kind of pastry. It is consumed especially during Ramadan. Güllaç is considered by some as being the origin of baklava.
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Chebakia
Turkey
A sesame-topped fried honey pastry made in large batches at the start of Ramadan in Morocco.
Shebakia (Arabic: شباكية) or chebakia, also known as griwech or griouech, is a Maghrebi sweet pastry made of strips of dough rolled to resemble a rose, deep-fried until golden, then coated with a syrup made of honey and orange blossom water and sprinkled with…
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Baghrir
Algeria
A spongy thousand-hole pancake, a popular iftar food in North Africa.
Baghrir or beghrir (Arabic:البغرير), also known as ghrayef or mchahda, is a pancake consumed in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
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Briouat
Morocco
Crisp filled pastries, a common sweet treat during Ramadan in Morocco.
A brioua or briwa, plural briwat (Arabic: بريوات) is a sweet or savory turnover made with puff pastry. It is part of the Moroccan cuisine. Briwat are filled with meat (mostly chicken or lamb) or fish and shrimp, mixed with cheese, lemon and pepper.
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Sholezard
Iran
A saffron rice pudding, especially used for breaking the fast in Ramadan in Iran.
Sholezard (Persian: شله‌زرد; also known as zard birinj or zard berenj (Persian: زردبرنج) or zarda) is a rice pudding composed of saffron, sugar, rose water, butter, cinnamon and cardamom.
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Ramadan pide
Turkey
A soft, round Turkish flatbread served at iftar and sahur throughout Ramadan.
Ramazan pidesi (Turkish for Ramadan pita) is a traditional soft-leavened Turkish bread. Round and rather flat in form, and having a weave-like patterned crust, Ramazan pidesi is made of wheat flour with yeast, and topped with sesame and Nigella sativa seeds.
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Bubur lambuk
Malaysia
A spiced rice porridge cooked at mosques and handed out for free iftar in Malaysia.
Bubur lambuk is a spiced congee eaten during Ramadan in Malaysia. It is usually prepared by a group of people in mosques to be distributed to the masses as a free iftar meal.
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Tharid
Kuwait
A bread and stew dish that is a common Ramadan meal in the Gulf.
Tharid (Arabic: ثريد) also known as thareed, trid, fareed, tashrib, tashreeb or taghrib is a bread soup that originates from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, an Arab cuisine also found in many other Arab countries.
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Kahk
Egypt
Butter cookies baked in Egypt to celebrate Eid al-Fitr.
Kahk (Egyptian Arabic: كحك), also Kahk El Eid, is a sweet shortbread biscuit that is eaten in Egypt, primarily to celebrate festive occasions like Eid al-Fitr as well as during Christmas and Easter.
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Kalburabastı
Turkey
Syrup-soaked semolina cookies prepared for Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha in Turkey.
Kalburabastı (sometimes spelled kalbura bastı) or kalburabasma (Turkish, also known as hurmašice in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and throughout the rest of former Yugoslavia as urmašice), and sometimes also known under the name of hurma, are syrup-drenched…
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Şekerpare
Turkey
A syrupy almond-topped cookie most popular during Ramadan in Turkey.
Şekerpare is a common dessert in Turkish cuisine. It is a semolina cookie that is topped with nuts and soaked in sugar syrup. It is most popular during Ramadan. The dessert is also popular in Egypt and the Levant as rumūsh al-sitt (Arabic: رموش الست, lit.
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Shemai
Bangladesh India
A sweet vermicelli dessert that is popular during Eid in Bangladesh and India.
Shemai (Bengali: সেমাই, সিমুই) is a traditional dessert in Bangladesh and Indian state of Odisha and West Bengal. Shemai is popular during Eid, but consumed throughout the year.
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Soft Khichuri
Bangladesh
A soft rice and lentil dish served at most Sylheti tables during Ramadan in Bangladesh.
Smooth Porridge, also known as Patla Khichuri, Norom Khichuri or, Leța Kisuri, is one kind of rice-based meal which is similar in consistency to porridge, a popular dish in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh.
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Opor ayam
Indonesia
Chicken in coconut milk curry, a popular dish for Eid al-Fitr (Lebaran) in Indonesia.
Opor ayam (Indonesian pronunciation: [ˌɔpɔr ˈ(ʔ)ajam]) is an Indonesian dish from Central Java consisting of chicken cooked in coconut milk.
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Ketupat
Malaysia
Rice cooked in a woven pouch, widely prepared for festive occasions such as Eid in Southeast Asia.
Ketupat is a type of compressed rice cake commonly found across Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Timor-Leste and southern Thailand.
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Mandazi
Tanzania
A lightly sweet fried dough served at iftar in Somalia, often alongside samosas.
Mandazi (Swahili: mandazi, maandazi) is a form of fried bread that originated on the Swahili coast of East Africa. It is also known as bofrot or puff-puff in Western African countries such as Ghana and Nigeria.
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Batik cake
Malaysia
A no-bake chocolate biscuit cake served at celebrations such as Eid al-Fitr in Malaysia.
Kek batik is a type of Malaysian no-bake fridge cake dessert inspired by the Scottish tiffin, brought in the country during the British Malaya and Borneo period, and adapted with Malaysian ingredients.
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