Daughters gift mum cookbook of over 100 of her recipes in Ramadan
3 min readA mum who cooks for her family and community had ‘the biggest smile’ when her daughters presented her with a special Ramadan gift. Umm Fatma’s daughters collected over 100 of her recipes to create a Yemeni and Somali Cookbook.
The ‘Food Made Easy Cook Book’ was years in the making. It began life as a successful Instagram page which has built up a following of thousands.
Five daughters, Umm Mohamed, Umm Sumaya, Umm Adam, Umm Sukainah and Umm Ridwan came together to surprise their mother, who is an avid cook. The cook book was released at the beginning of this Ramadan and was started over five years ago. It is now available through Amazon.
As their mother, Umm Fatma has been a keen cook within their family and community over the years, the sisters wanted to capture around 110 of her most famous recipes in the book.
Read more: Some of the best clothes shops in Birmingham to get your Eid outfits
The cook book involves extensive recipes like Umm Fatma’s famous peri peri chicken, shakshuka, biryani, steak and lots more. Although the recipes have a ‘Yemeni and Somali twist’ many are easy halal recipes – there are also detailed pictures of methods on how to create the recipes to help readers.
One of the sisters, Umm Ridwan told BirminghamLive: “Our mother was the first person to believe in our cook book even before it was published she would tell people how our cook book will come out.
(Image: Umm Fatma)
“Our mother is well known to be a great cook and everyone who knows her loves to compliment how delicious her food is, Allahuma bareek. We’ve learnt so much from her and developed more of our own recipes with the life skills she’s given us in the process”
1.Eid al-Fitr is one of the most important Muslims festivals in the Islamic calendar and marks the end of Ramadan, the holy month of fasting. It takes place at the start of the next month, Shawwal.
2.Celebrate Eid, the one-day celebration of Eid al-Fitr in Birmingham’s Small Heath Park, sees as many as 140,000 Muslims joining in a single congregation – but this event has been unable to take place during the coronavirus pandemic
3.Islamic religious festivals are based on the moon’s cycle. This is different from the Gregorian calendar, which is based on the sun and used by most of the western world.
4.Eid, which means “festival of breaking the fast”, is a religious holiday and a day of celebrations when Muslims will give thanks to Allah, and exchange small gifts and cards.
5.People usually dress in new clothes or in their finest outfits for the day.
6.Eid al-Fitr begins on the first day of Shawwal, the tenth month in the lunar calendar, but usually carries on for three days. Muslims can opt for a further six days of fasting in this new month – these do not have to be consecutive. Anyone completing this is said to have completed the equivalent of fasting all year round. This is because Islamic tradition says that a good deed is rewarded 10 times – completing Ramadan and the six days during Shawwal, times 10, is a year.
7.Giving to charity is an important part of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr. This is usually donations of food to the poor so they too can enjoy Eid celebrations.
The book comes with 300 pages of starters, main dishes, snacks, desserts and drinks. The cookbook is priced at £35 and is available on Amazon.
Umm Ridwan added: “It was the most challenging years for us to compile our recipes. We’ve gone through many challenges and obstacles on the way. We gave up on it a few times but then one of us would remember, especially around Ramadan time, where we would ask each other recipes and the cook book would be mentioned.
“The first reaction to our cookbook from our mother when we gifted her in a beautiful box, she was so happy and had the biggest smile, and prayed for us.”
To buy the Food Made Easy cookbook or get more information about the book visit here.
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