Last Wednesday was the first day of Ramadan. And with that marked the beginning of a month long of fasting. Needless to say I am quite hungry. And browsing food sites all day long doesn’t help.
I admit that during the first two days I was very grumpy. But surprisingly, I’ve been feeling very energetic since yesterday. I feel I no longer need my morning cup of coffee to begin my day, I also feel much lighter. I think its because my tummy is taking a break from the torture I usually inflict on her with my bad eating habits, my stomach is grateful to be eating two meals a days (iftar and suhor), my sweet tooth is grateful to be getting dessert as usual once per day.
Usually for iftar I start with a glass of warm (not cold) water, a date (perhas two) , a bowl of lentil soup, fattoush salad and juice (definitely not soda). After that, I feel almost full, I take a break to pray. 20 minutes later, I eat my main course. Which is basically a protein (meat or chicken), a carbohydrate, (pasta, rice or pizza) and baked sambusak (not fried).
Dessert is usually Katayef, kunfa, basbosa, muhalabiya, or aish el saraya….
For suhor, I always make sure not to eat anything with salt, else I’ll be hungry all day. Therefore, I eat yogurt. Am currently obsessed with dates so I usually mix half a cup of yogurt with some raspberries and dates (deseeded and chopped). I also eat a banana (I heard that the potassium helps to reduce the hunger). I then drink 2 -3 cups of water.
And then I fast for the next 16 hours
Its really not as hard as it sounds
Dates are very popular in Ramadan. The raw chocolate date truffles with rosewater below are a different way to serve dates. These truffles are probably the easiest truffles in the world, because a)its not tempered chocolate, so no melting, b) no cooking whatsoever is required, c)only three ingredients.
Not a lot of recipes can claim to be like that.
I find cocoa powder to go beautifully with the natural sweetness of dates but if you feel that raw cocoa is too bitter for your taste buds, feel free to substitute if for sesame, ground nuts, coconut, etc…
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Yield: 12 - 18 truffles (depending on the size of scop using)
Ingredients
- 15- 20 good quality dates, deseeded
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder (can be substituted with cardamom, cinnamon etc…)
- 2 tbsp rosewater
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder for rolling the dates (can be substituted with dried coconut, sesame, ground nuts etc…)
Steps
- Put the dates, cocoa powder, and rosewater into the food processor. Process until smooth.
- Using a spoon, scoop a small amount into your palm. Shape into a truffle shape, then roll in cocoa powder (or whatever you’ll substitute it for). If your palms become sticky, rub some olive oil.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving.
Notes
(If you the paste to be sticky, keep a small cup containing 2 tbsp olive oil to rub on your palms whenever needed)
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