Ramadan Diaries with Tasneem Jadwat

0:00Assalamu alaykum and welcome back to the show 1631 Central African Diamond this beautiful day in Janice, Baksad, Africa. Welcome to our Ramadan diary series where we catch up with notable voices, notable personalities and we find out what is their Ramadan like favorite Ramadan memories and just having a little insight into how different people celebrate Ramadan around the world. Today I'm chatting to no stranger to our listeners of course. This name, Jedwad, she is from Chalokawa, Chowalitz Eat and a social media personality and a chef of note. This name is Salamu alaykum. Welcome to the show. It's lovely to have you with us on air this afternoon. When I speak about Ramadan, what is one memory that you always associate with the month? So it might be sound a bit funny but I'm not sure if you did it as a child as well, phoning 1026 to find out if it was the first time. One of my favorite memories, you know, as kids,

1:01we didn't have smartphones, okay, we had watches, we had clocks, but we needed to know that exact time went that signal hit, you know. So yeah, I always remember that and something our kids will never experience, but you know, it's something very, it's a very fun memory that I have. Which is an answer of such a memory for me. And the Afrikaans version as well, or I'll never forget that I didn't know a bunch of Afrikaans. And I've always heard this Afrikaans woman's voice and it was just, yeah, it's memory, nostalgia from Ramadan of many years. Alhamdulillah. When we talk about food and we talk about, you know, what has to be on the iftar table, on the suhu table and that signals to you this dish is the only dish we eat during the month of Ramadan. So suhu was always simple even growing up and even now with my husband, it's either cereal or eggs or yogurt or leftovers from the night before. But when it comes to iftar, you know, there was always my mother's, my late mother, my grandmother's tomato chutney. And apparently

2:04this recipe is from fitas because my mom grew up in job, but she grew up in fitas. It's a simple, tomato chutney made with fresh tomatoes, garlic, cumin, a bit of salt and a bit of dry red chilies. It's all just cooked together and until it's soft and the water evaporates and then lemon juice is added. And you know, it just blended and it's it's one of the most delicious and oil-free fat three chutneys you'll find. But that's not very grins and that smell. It's also something that was signature to my mom. A lot of people made it also, but it never tasted like hers. And recently, you know, and because we obviously must, we must the family that have left us, always remember her when like you come close to it. It will never be the same as theirs, but Alhamdulillah, you know, when we come close to it, we feel like we are accomplished something. So Alhamdulillah. What is the best Ramadan in your entire life? That one Ramadan, they just stood out and you said, this was the one that I wish I could go back. Or it was just

3:06an amazing Ramadan for you. Which one would that be? So it would be in 1999, 2000 around that time. I can't remember the Islamic year, but we went for Umrah. We lost my brother that year and we went for Umrah. And that is when I heard Sheikh Johani read, and I'm a crazy, crazy fan of Sheikh Johani. And you know, we were in Medina and we heard him read and you know, it just melted my heart completely. It was like, you just knew that Allah was sending you a sign that, you know, everything is going to be okay. But it was the most beautiful Ramadan. I have such fun memories of Ramadan in Saudi with my mom and my other late brother as well and my dad. Alhamdulillah, we had such a good times making Eid in Saudi Arabia as well. Alhamdulillah, you know, and the best part of those Ramadan were the simplest of meals. We didn't have all the comforts of home, but we still had, you know, that unity and that warmth and just being in that in that place. So I would definitely say, you know, above all, having Ramadan in Saudis was

4:08something else. Alhamdulillah, for experiencing it. Alhamdulillah, what do you do in your own home to make Ramadan special for iman and kids and that just brings that atmosphere alive in the home? So we have to have the Kahua boiling every day. Alhamdulillah, the smell of the Kahua to be run through the house. We have to make it. No problem. In fact, I actually bought a Kahua maker which is a small little kettle device like almost like a tea pot, but it tells you when to put the Kahua, it tells you when to put the cardamom and then obviously you add the saffron at the end, but it it work comes out perfect because it's timed and it just beeps when you're supposed to do it. So Alhamdulillah, that's made a huge difference, but when I'm lazy, then I just, you know, take take it and put it on the stove. It still comes out nice. But yeah, the Kahua maker is definitely something that, you know, I had to buy something a bit crazy like that, but it was definitely worth it and Alhamdulillah. And then dates, obviously, having a variety of dates on the table, you know, that's that's so important to bring the dates in and the simple things, the yogurt and the duqa.

5:14So it's just bringing all that, you know, in our homes and yeah, having the zamsam on the table, but that that's what makes it special. And obviously the kids like to get involved helping with the desserts or telling me what they want or what to make. So Alhamdulillah, Iman Niman gets Pazil also. She tries to make different desserts. Alhamdulillah, that's a bit fun. Yeah. I'm so paid in making Kahua. So well, I do is I put the Kahua powder in a cup of coffee and that's that's the way you I do it. So I'm going to have the instant Kahua. Yes, that's a good shortcut when you when you travel. But if you have the the ready made Kahua, a lot of them are nicely mixed with saffron and cloves and a bit of they've got some other spices as well that they mix in there. So with the cardamom is obviously the key ingredient, but it comes mixed already. And I just add a little bit more cardamom to add a bit flavor. And then I was told by a Saudi lady that you should put a bit of saffron in your flask, not in the Kahua, while it's boiling. And then pour that mixture, strain that mixture, point into the flask. So then that saffron melts into that

6:16flavor and it really turns out nice. Alhamdulillah. So you can definitely boil it on the stove. You don't need a fancy machine. I was just, yeah, being a bit crazy, I guess. I'm going to I'm going to try and get that that machine. So we love your food. We love we loving the Ajwa of misu. I can't wait to try it out. It's a tiram misu made out of Ajwa. Listen as you have to go to Disney and Spage to go and see it. But if you're to invent a trending dessert from a down to 2026, what would it be? So definitely the Ajwa series. I'm still we just started with it Alhamdulillah. So there are some so few more tricks up our sleeves. I'd love to use the Ajwa date to bring out that flavor because the beauty of this date is that when you add hot cream to it and you infuse that cream with this Ajwa, you don't need to add any sugar to get you know a sweet dessert. So it's such a healthy alternative and there's so much blessing in the Ajwa date. So definitely there will be you know some crazy Ajwa desserts that are going to come up. But obviously paying respect to the date. The tiram Ajwa misu is really nice in the sense that it

7:21it combines Arabic coffee instead of normal coffee when you know you dump your budwai in the Gahua not in normal coffee. So the flavor just goes so well because we know dates and Gahua are match made in general. So Alhamdulillah that's definitely a must try and inshallah there'll be a few more twists and turns coming up. So yeah I hope I hope the lesson is well and yeah the viewers will enjoy it inshallah. How are you going to get Ajwa Soji? I'm just asking. So I've done a date Soji before but not with Ajwa. So definitely we have to do one on a Friday inshallah. That's a good idea. It's on the tirulists. It's on the tirulists. You have to offer the umad as Ramadan. What what would that be? So I think everybody just wants peace and the world is such a crazy place at the moment. I mean it's always it always happens in Ramadan where all these wars start and people are going through such difficult times and you know looking at the way things are you know happening. It's it's frightening to think that we are actually living in these times things we read about in the past

8:22you know that were prophesized. You can see that you know those certain signs of Qiyama they and Allah must just protect our Umar. Keep us united inshallah put all our differences aside and keep our Umar united so we can fight the forces that they try to break us up and try to destroy us. You know it's it's it's scary because we have small kids they growing up in these times. We want you know we want them to have a peaceful life inshallah but we don't know what's in here. We don't know what's around the corner. We have our fate. We have our Tawakul inshallah lamas guide us and protect us and and give our Umar the strength to to fight against the evils of the devil that the devil that are out there. Absolutely. Also I'm doing the series go to out the day towards the end of the program. So I just want to hear from everybody what's your favorite to automate during this this matter? Is there a favorite to add that you read continuously or do either to make that you just would like love to share with our listeners this afternoon? So I always remember

9:22you know watching um when we went in Saudi then we used to watch the TV to watch the tarawi and there was always this guy with his Arabic accent just to say that in the first 10 days you must make dua for mercy the second 10 forgiveness and then I think it's the third 10 that's salvation from jahnam. So you know it's just according to that make those duars in those 10 days each 10 days each each third make those duars and you know and then obviously later the culture is coming up so we make special duars there but yeah there's so many duars you can make so I can't use anyone in particular but yeah I can't use this one in particular dua just inshallah for the Umar make make a dua that you know love protect our Umar inshallah. I mean I mean I mean I mean thank you so much for joining us in the show it was lovely getting an insight into your Ramadan on the Ramadan diary series we'll definitely catch up soon and I'm looking forward to more lovely recipes from you on the page and I will direct our listeners day as well but thank you so much for joining us making yourself available for our listeners this afternoon until we check

10:24again you take care and Assalamu alaikum.