Eid al-Fitr with a Sudanese flavor

CAIRO – 25 June 2017: On Eid al-Fitr, Sudanese men go out on the White Nile in Omdurman to fish and women prepare their baking trays to bake all the festive goodies, most importantly ka’k.

Ka’k is a staple in all Middle Eastern and North African countries. Egyptian ka’k are cookies covered with powdered sugar with a texture so smooth it almost melts in your mouth.

In Sudan, ka’k is usually accompanied with gargoosh/khamirat laban. It is a biscuit prepared from milk yeast and usually served with chai, milk and mint in the morning or in a sunset custom called Chai ElMaghrib (“sunset tea”).

Gargoosh is a very important dish in Sudanese feasts because it is a tradition to bring some when visiting the graveyard on the morning of EId al-Fitr. Other dishes include the infamous ghoraiba, meneen and betifor.

After a long month of eating asida and mulah, a traditional Sudanese dish consisting of a porridge-like dish (asida) drowned in a thick sauce mixed with weeka (mulah), Sudanese indulge in fish in all its forms – from grilled fish with rice to oven-cooked fish covered in sauce and fried fish.

In preparation for Eid, women touch up their henna designs and don a thob, a Sudanese traditional dress, while men iron their jalabiya and lay out their ‘Ima. The children are ecstatic to wear their new clothes and receive their Eidiya from their relatives. The house is infused with the smell of bakhour (incense) and all the pastries and baked goodies are put on display on the finest dishware for arriving guests.