Celebrate the breaking of the fast a la Lebanon

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Like other parts of the world where Ramadhan is celebrated, Lebanese families also have the tradition of gathering together for the breaking of the fast where they can communicate among family members to build kinship.

Moreover, Lebanese families like to invite friends and relatives to enjoy the meal to show their happiness having successfully completed the fasting at the end of the day.

"Lebanese have a tradition of inviting relatives, neighbors and close friends to break the fast together and they usually take turns in inviting each other," said executive chef Chahid Youness from Al Nafoura Lebanese restaurant at Le Meridien Jakarta.

For the occasion, the housewife with the help of her daughters as well as other female members of the family prepare a range of traditional dishes and drinks to be enjoyed together, just several hours before the bedug is sounded.

Traditionally, Lebanese break the fast simply with light treats, like korma (dates) and sambousek (deep-fried pastries filled with either spiced ground meat or cheese or vegetables, usually served as hot starter), accompanied by at least one refreshing (traditional) juice, such as kamar el din (apricot with water and sugar), tamar hindi (dates with rose water and sugar), jalab (dates and raisins in rose water), iraan juice (yoghurt, water and mint powder) or simply orange juice.

"It's a small gathering of several families. They chat while savoring korma and other delicacies," Chahid said, while adding that good quality dates are a little bit dry with sweet, tender flesh.

After enjoying light yet satisfying dishes, they attend the tarawih (Ramadhan night prayer) together and after that, the family return home and gather at the dining table where a complete meal is served. It normally consists of at least one type of soup, five to six different appetizers (both cold and hot) and at least three main courses dishes, served with a couple of desserts to complete the meal. Usually, tea and coffee are also served.

The number of dishes served for each course, Chahid said, is determined by the family's budget but hotels and restaurants dish up a more extensive range of dishes.

Lebanese dishes mostly center on vegetables and locals also use ingredients popular in Mediterranean countries as well, like olive oil, eggplant, lemon juice, paprika and tomato.

"Lebanese appetizers are vegetarian, while meat like lamb, chicken and beef is used mostly in main courses," he explained.

The country has a long list of appetizers that are also popular in its neighboring countries and the popular ones include labneh ma'toum (creamy yoghurt with garlic, fresh thyme and olive oil), hummus (purreed chickpeas with sesame paste and olive oil), moutabel (pureed eggplant with sesame paste and olive oil), warak enab bil zeit (grape leaves stuffed with rice, parsley, onion and olive oil) and tabouleh (parsley salad with tomato, cracked wheat and olive oil).

While in the main course are shish kebab (grilled, spiced lamb), shawarma dajaj (roasted chicken with garlic yoghurt and pickles) and a must have item: mechawoui (Lebanese style mixed grill consisting of lamb, beef and chicken).

But unlike in Indonesia where people prefer to stay at home after the evening prayer, Lebanese go out in the evening and go to hotels or shop at malls, which usually close at 10 p.m., and resume business at 3 a.m. during Ramadhan.

Local hotels also set up tents where people can stay to spend time with friends or simply enjoy the night. The tents close at 3 a.m. just hours before sahur (the early morning pray and meal). During these hours, Lebanese enjoy a range of light dishes mostly Arabic desserts and shishah (water pipe).

"For them, this is considered as sahur and they don't go to sleep after breakfast since office hours are shorter during Ramadhan and they still have time to take a short nap later," Chahid said.

For sahur, different appetizers like foul moudamas (sauteed broad beans with olive oil), fatayer sabanekh (fried spinach, onion and pine nuts in pastry) and several sweet deserts, like mohalabia (milk and sugar pudding with rose water), um-ali (nut and raisin pudding with fresh cream), znoud el zeit (filo pastry with cheese filling and sugar syrup) and baklava (filo pastry with nuts and sugar syrup) are served.

According to Chahid, baklava remains the most popular treat during Ramadhan and this highly sought-after item is widely sold by sweet shops.

"When invited to breakfast, people do not come empty handed but they commonly bring along a box of sweet treats and most of them bring baklava as a gift," Chahid explained.

After a month of fasting and still in the mood to forgive and forget, Lebanese celebrate Idul Fitri with similar traditional delicacies, but this time, all are served in a festive way. "They prepare a wider variety of each course to make the day special and the celebration memorable," he said.