Fasting, feasting: Qatari Ramadan delicacies influenced by Indian cuisine

Doha’s Souq Wakif is the veritable ground zero for some iftar feasting on Qatari Ramadan delicacies, many of which are heavily influenced by Indian cuisine
​ Souq Wakif ​
​ Souq Wakif ​

Known more commonly as ‘The Thumb’, the Le Pouce sculpture by acclaimed French artist César Baldaccini has become the symbol of Doha’s iconic Souq Wakif. For, it is here, that most Qataris first meet up to begin their nightly iftar food crawls during Ramadan.

Meaning ‘The Standing Market’—due to its location on the once-flooding Wadi Musheireb river bed that caused merchants to ply their wares standing up, instead of sitting down—the pedestrian-only Souq Wakif is the place in Doha to get a taste of the local Qatari Ramadan fare. One that is heavily influenced by India and its myriad flavours.

No big surprise then that the default lingua franca here is a mix of Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam. This, thanks to the nation’s robust immigrant population, mainly from the subcontinent, peddling their food and spices in this warren of tiny alleyways.

Desi Designs

Over the decades, it has been dishes like the decidedly biryani-meets-yakhni pulao called machboos and samosas that have become iftar staples. The former has rice and lamb cooked with a mixture of spices, including saffron, cinnamon and cardamom, and is usually served with a side of yoghurt or salad. Qatari samosas, on the other hand, are pretty similar to a deep-fried Indian patti samosa and come stuffed with spiced vegetables or meat. These are best had with jallab, the kala khatta-like iced drink (made with dates, grape molasses, rose water and garnished with pine nuts). Or, with steaming hot glasses of karak tea, which is what they call their version of kadak chai.

Souq Wakif has over two dozen shops and stalls selling this almost ‘national drink’ of Qatar. Brought in by homesick construction workers from India who have been working in the middle-eastern nation since the mid 1960s, this iterations is made by boiling strong black tea powder with loads of sugar, evaporated milk and crushed cardamom pods. Once reduced to a syrupy consistency, it is served up in small glass tumblers.

Another accompaniment to karak tea is the many breads that are influenced by India. Each making for 
a great pre-dinner iftar snack—from the ubiquitous chapati and roomali roti (that’s often used to make an Indian-style shawarma) to the paper dosa-like crispy ragag wafer bread.

Interestingly, due to the fact that in Arabic, the letter ‘P’ is pronounced as ‘B’, our deep-fried puri mutates into a buri. Once dunked into a chicken or lamb korma, it is equally scrumptious as it is back home.

<strong>shawarma; spice market</strong>
shawarma; spice market

Sweet Somethings

Desserts at the souq, too, are doppelgangers of the ones in India. The omnipresent fried dumplings called luqaimat is a cross between a gulab jamun and Mumbai’s East Indian community’s fried dumplings called fuggias. The only difference is that the luqaimat is first doused in either honey or date syrup and then topped with sesame seeds.

Balaleet is another sweet dish with decidedly desi underpinnings. Though usually a breakfast dish, it oftentimes shows up at iftar evenings and is made with sevviyan-like noodles. Cooked until they are tender, the noodles are mixed with eggs that have been beaten with sugar and spices, such as cardamom and saffron, and cooked until the eggs are set. The dish is typically garnished with nuts, such as slivered almonds and pistachios, and may be served with sweetened milk or cream. Thus, making it a perfect savoury-sweet ending to an inspired evening of feasting.

A DELICIOUS TWIST

In a bit of a reversal, there is one Qatari Ramadan favourite that has actually influenced Indian cuisine. The dark- brown-hued Qatari halwa is what the gooey, translucent Bombay halwa is based on. Called rahash, it is made from a mixture of sugar, cornflour, ghee, saffron, cardamom, rose water, and nuts such as pistachios or almonds. Set in bowls, it is scooped up with a piece of what else, but a fried buri, giving new meaning to the whole halwa-puri coupling.

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