Feluccas on the Nile at Aswan
The small one-room house over the road
Tomorrow is the last day of Ramadan – finally after 29 days of fasting - tomorrow night the new moon will be visible for the first time in the night sky and we will see the beginning of the Eid el Fitr (mostly just called the Eid here) and the end of Ramadan. This will be a three day holiday which runs on to the weekend so we will really experience a holiday period until next Sunday. To tell the truth it has been a long month for me and tonight I am really tired for some reason, not that I’ve done anything out of the ordinary today. Maybe it is all just finally catching up. Or maybe it is because today was hot and uncomfortable and VERY thirsty as I did all my work around the house. Also windy, but not as bad as the other day. It’s supposed to be a little cooler for the next few days which will be great.
I have actually had a slightly more interesting few days with Hagar coming and staying for 2 days, helping me to cook the iftar meal for 25 that we provided on Friday night. It was good to see her again and have her company and to learn a few more words of Arabic. And with her help we managed to have all the food ready exactly on time. At the last moment Mohamed added another dish; I don’t know its Arabic name but it is zucchinis cut into thinnish slices length ways and fried then layered in a pan with a béchamel sauce and baked in the oven.
In the end all the drivers were working and Mohamed took the food by himself in the Honda. Except the food that was for the doorman and his family and the folks over the road. All the pans came back empty and Mohamed said the food was good so I can only hope that they all enjoyed it. I saw that the people over the road were all gathered around a carpet on the ground outside their small one room, they seemed to have guests as well. A small amount of generosity goes a long way in Egypt.
Obviously, now at some time when the drivers are not working we will need to give them a special meal as well. But the high season has started to kick in and so I don‘t know when that will be. And thank goodness really, work has been a bit scarce during Ramadan – many tourists are given the impression that nothing much can happen during the month and it’s a time to avoid, which is a false impression of course, and in fact many tourist hotels etc. make special deals, including special iftar meals at excellent prices.
Another special custom that marks the end of Ramadan is gift giving. We will give gifts of money to the doorman and to our drivers, and also to Hagar and to Rania’s boys. So – let me tell you a little about the Eid.
The word Eid is an Arabic name that means a festivity, a celebration, a recurring happiness, and a feast. In Islam, there are two major Eids namely Eid el-Fitr (Festival of Breaking the Fast) celebrating the end of Ramadan and Eid al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) which coincides with the Hajj (the main time for a pilgrimage to Mecca) and commemorates prophet Abraham’s sacrifice of a sheep in place of his son Ishmael. (Abraham is a figure of great significance to Muslims as well as to Jews and Christians)
Eid el-Fitr is celebrated by Muslims after Ramadan as a matter of thanks and gratitude to God. It takes place on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month of the lunar calendar, and is a happy celebration with new clothes, gifts, and plenty of good food. Though technically the Eid is one day, festivities last three days in Egypt with public holidays for schools, universities and government offices. Some shops and restaurants are closed during Eid, too.
The Eid day starts with a small snack followed by Eid prayers (Salat al-Eid) in congregation in the mosque attended by men, women and children. Afterwards neighbours, friends and relatives start greeting each other. The most common greeting is Eid mubarak (Have a blessed Eid). Children are normally given gifts, which traditionally are new clothes to wear throughout the Eid. Also, women (particularly mothers, wives, sisters and daughters) are commonly given special gifts by their loved ones. (I wonder if there’ll be anything for me?)
It is customary for children to also receive an Eidyah from their adult relatives. This is a small sum of money that the children receive, to spend on all their activities throughout the Eid. Children wear their new clothes and go out to amusement parks, gardens or public courtyards based on how much their Eidyah affords. The amusement parks can range from the big ones on the outskirts of Cairo (just out past us there are two of them) to small mobile neighbourhood rides consisting of swings and small rides, much like a small carnival we might see at home. In other parts of the city, kids also gather around a storyteller, a puppeteer or a magician, entertained by Egyptian folktales or by a grown-up’s sleight of hand. It is also customary for kids to rent decorated bikes to ride around town I’m told.
This will be an unusual site as I don't think I've seen a kid on a bike here yet.
Eid is a time for family gatherings and since a lot of Egyptian city dwellers are first or second generation immigrants from towns and villages, those gatherings can involve travelling and therefore it is the busiest time of the year for roads and trains. Since most Egyptians live in close proximity to the Nile, felucca rides are one common feature of Eid celebration in Egyptian villages, towns and cities. For a lot of families from working neighbourhoods, Eid celebration also includes picnics in green areas including parks, zoos, botanical gardens and even green islands on major roads.
The doorman and his family have already left today to go to Faiyoum to celebrate the Eid, and the little house over the road is also locked up. I guess they have also headed to their home town. Walaa asked us to come to Kuwait to celebrate with the two sisters that live there but it really wasn’t feasible or affordable when we investigated.
Family gatherings involve cooking and eating all kinds of Egyptian food but the item most associated with Eid el-Fitr are kahk (singular is kahka) which are spicy cookies filled with nuts or dates and covered with sugar powder. Egyptians either bake them at home or buy it in the bakery. Thus, a bakery crowded in the last few days of Ramadan with kahk buyers is apparently a common scene. I don’t have to worry – Rania was kind and baked a big selection of them for us and sent them with Hagar. The biscuit itself seems a bit like shortbread to me.
I also understand that TV in Egypt celebrates Eid, too, with a continuous marathon of movies as well as programs featuring live interviews from all over Egypt of both public figures and everyday citizens, sharing their Eid celebrations. No doubt that will all be in Arabic and I’ll miss out on it. Mohamed may watch some it. I have no idea if he has anything in particular planned for Eid.
Tonight he is out with his friend Mohamed Elkardy the policeman who is back from Sharm El Sheikh. When he gets home I assume he will have another hour of prayer before our final meal and bed. In fact, it’s now 1.30 pm and he’s just arrived home. I’ve been trying to find a kahk recipe for you but one I found had a review that said it was terrible and another said you need a spicy mix called rihat el kahk that you can only buy in middle eastern stores.
Rihat el kahk is a spice mixture or essence used as part of the seasoning in Egypt. It contains aniseed, fennel seed, mahlab, and bay leaf. Mahlab is made from ground sour cherry stones, and it apparently lends a bitter almond fragrance to the dish. Rania’s biscuits don’t smell like that to me however. They have a crumbly texture.
Here’s one I found that uses a mixture of spices to make up for not having the rihat el kahk. However I haven’t tried them and they seem fairly fiddly – so maybe only you dedicated cooks will give them a try.
Makes approximately 40 biscuits
1 cup whole milk
3 bay leaves, fresh if possible
454 gms. unsalted butter
4 ½ cups all purpose flour
3 tsp ground aniseed
3 tsp ground fennel seed
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cardamom
½ tsp ground cloves
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups pitted dates
powdered sugar for dusting
Twist or crush the bay leaves to bruise them and heat with the milk in a small saucepan until very warm – do not allow to bubble or boil. Remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the butter in a medium pot and heat over medium-high heat until it foams and bubbles. Continue to cook until the solids have separated to the bottom of the pan and the butter is lightly golden in color.
As the butter is cooking, whisk together the flour, 1 ½ tsps of the aniseed, 1 ½ tsps of the fennel seed, the cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Once the butter is clarified and golden, pour the liquid into the flour and spice mixture and mix thoroughly
Remove the bay leaves from the milk, and, once the mixture has cooled enough that it’s just warm to the touch, dissolve in the yeast and the sugar. Allow to bloom for 10 minutes and then add to the flour and butter mixture along with the almond extract. Knead or process until the mixture comes together, and then cover with plastic wrap and let rest in a warm place for 1 hour.
While the dough is resting, place the dates and the remaining aniseed and fennel seed into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture comes together in a thick paste.
Preheat the oven to 175-180 degrees C.
Form a ball of dough and flatten it to a disk about 3 inches across. Form a 1-inch disk of date paste and place in the center of the dough. Fold up all 4 sides and pinch together to seal (see photo above). Allow the formed biscuits to rest for 15 - 20 minutes, and then bake for 25 minutes or until golden and cooked through. While they're still hot, transfer the biscuits to a rack and shake over icing sugar through a sieve until they're completely covered. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.
I think you can also put other things in the middle like nuts or even a piece of turkish delight.
So that’s it for tonight folks – I hope that you enjoy your week. Will probably write again after Eid
Lots of love
Lyndall
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