Iftar: The Flip Side of Ramadan Fasting

(Gerry Furth-Sides) You knew it was going to be a day of eating when we all piled into a car in LA to drive to Little Arabia in Anaheim, and a plate of El Salvadorean pastries was offered before the doors were closed.   And it was true.  The back story is that for years I’ve heard about the Ramadan feasts in Little Arabia.  The food and the aura of hospitality that pervades each of these restaurants is infectious, and everyone, new or a regular customer, beings home a lifetime memory of the feast.The Olive Tree’s iftar feast was a lucky draw for me although simply the friendly feelings form the event were inviting enough.  Everyone knows the hospitality of Persians, where a dinner for 12 easily turns into a fast for 50.   Yet, even after dining on sumptuous Middle Eastern spreads, the vast array choices from around the Middle East, with a special emphasis on Eastern Mediterranean dishes was a surprise: 28 appetizers, 8 entrees including a whole roasted lamb plus the holiday desserts.

The main courses of the Ramadan buffet at Olive Tree vary from day to day because many of the customers dine there daily during the holiday.  This is a typical example that we were offered.  Faye Levy, who arranged the dinner for us, also documented the evening’s menu (below).  Owner-patriarch  Yusuf Abdo described each dish for us.   He happily presided over the lamb carving, and watched his son and current proprietor, Alan A. Abdo , host the event.

Braised lamb shanks (ouzi) with a secret 15-spice rice, ground beef, carrots, peas and toasted almonds.  They serve this dish with different grains each day.

The succulent stuffed lamb with spiced rice and toasted almonds.  There was also an upside-down casserole of eggplant and cauliflower baked with spiced rice and toasted almonds.

Appetizers:

• Medjool dates to break the fast
• Lentil soup
• Ijjeh – cauliflower fritters made with eggs and flour and seasoned with cumin
• Round spinach sambusik (turnover) in yeast-leavened dough – the spinach was seasoned with sumac and hot pepper
• Three kinds of triangular sambusiks (turnovers) with cheese, meat and potato fillings in a crisp dough – The cheese filling was cream cheese; the potato filling was mashed potato finished with butter; the meat filling was beef fillet flavored with onions and seven spices blend
• Koshari – Egyptian vegan dish of lentils, rice and pasta with spicy tomato sauce, topped with fried onions
• Stuffed grape leaves with rice, herbs, olive oil and lemon
• Fried cauliflower florets and eggplant slices
• Spiced sauteed potato cubes and French fries
• Cooked lamb’s spleen slices, served with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and lemon
• Fattoush – green salad made of romaine seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice, with tomato and cucumber, topped with pita chips
• Fried chicken wings
• Musakhan – chicken with sumac and onions fried in olive oil, wrapped in flour tortillas and sliced
• Baked tomatoes with mozzarella cheese
• House-made pickles

Dips served with pita bread:

• Foul – Fava beans seasoned with lemon juice topped with chickpeas, tomatoes, parsley, serrano chiles and garlic
• Fried zucchini with yogurt mint garlic dip
• Hummus garnished with whole chickpeas, parsley and red pepper
• Baba ghanouj garnished with parsley, red pepper and mint leaves
• Laban b’hiyar – Rich yogurt with finely diced cucumber, garlic and mint

Main courses:

• Whole lamb stuffed with ouzi rice (rice with ground beef and a special spice blend), served with white rice with fried onions, toasted almonds and parsley
• Kofta (spiced meat patties) with vegetables in fresh tomato sauce
• Fattet chicken – chicken with yogurt garlic sauce and toasted pita topped with toasted almonds and parsley and finished at the last minute with sizzling butter
• Lamb shanks – These were steamed in the oven and were moist and succulent
• Macarona bechamel with meat – Creamy pasta tubes with little meat balls, browned in the oven
• Makloubeh – An “upside down” casserole of eggplant and cauliflower baked with yellow spiced Basmati rice with chicken broth and garlic, topped with toasted almonds
• Roasted chicken drumsticks
• Mloukhia with chicken – Mloukhia, a specialty of Egypt, is a green sauce made with loukhia leaves (often translated as jute leaves), finished with sauteed garlic
• White rice with toasted almonds, to accompany the mloukhia and the chicken

Dessert:

• Atayef – stuffed yeast-leavened pancakes with cheese, which are baked or fried, moistened with syrup and sprinkled with chopped pistachios.