Make Hummus. Not War offers rich Ramadan menu – 03/20/2024 – Food

Whether you are Christian, Jew or atheist, it is recommended to fast before the Make Hommus menu. Not War for Ramadan. If abstinence between sunrise and sunset is too much of a sacrifice for non-Muslims, have an early lunch, as the menu for the holy month of Islam requires you to be very, very hungry, given how abundant it is.

In the second year that the restaurant offers this option, always from 6pm to 7pm, only with a reservation made the day before, the dishes are delivered with a short interval between them, so that at the end the table looks like a banquet, as well as occurs at dinners that break the mandatory fast of the period.

At the entrance, dates with olive oil, salt and sesame. Talita Silveira Caffarena, partner at Make Hommus, says that the tradition is to start breakfast with “something given by God”, like fruit. In general, Muslims turn to foods with sugar, for obvious reasons, and qamar al-din, an apricot juice, is a common alternative.

In addition to dates, the restaurant serves water at the beginning, another deprivation associated with Ramadan, as well as alcoholic beverages. At the restaurant, however, no one needs to follow the instructions, not even chef Fred Caffarena, who converted to Islam. Thus, options from the wine list are available.

Still in the area of ​​starters, the menu features the restaurant’s trademark hummus and a shirazi salad, with cucumber, tomato, onion, fresh herbs and tahini. The star of this part of the menu, however, is the bread, made right there. If everything goes wrong — or too right —, the owners of Make Hommus should open a bakery.

When the table begins to take the form of a banquet, chickpea soup with cheese, onion, vinegar and strong pepper arrives, in the first of the two main courses. According to Talita, Fred’s soups made her want to marry him. The report didn’t go as far, but it got the message.

Just like hummus, the soup is topped with crunchy chickpeas. Those who want to avoid overdosing on the grain can swap the dish for an Iranian soup with yogurt, cucumber, garlic and mint prepared on other days on the menu. If the issue is pepper, there is also the Moroccan harira soup, with tomato and, of course, chickpeas.

At this point, dinner already seemed to be in sufficient quantity to last the next day’s fasting, given the generous portions, but maqluba, Palestinian rice with chicken or eggplant, would still arrive on the table. Served in small metal pans, the portions are taken out of the mold with a spoon.

A muhallebi, rice pudding with red or yellow fruit compote common in Turkey and part of the restaurant’s regular menu, ends the menu, mirroring the chef’s brand of embracing different cuisines from the Middle East, without focusing only on Lebanese or Syria, so present in São Paulo.

A Ramadan feast brings to mind images of people begging for food in Gaza, with the threat of Israel’s invasion of Rafah precisely during the holy month for Muslims. In a conflict with so many regrettable actions from side to side, even those far away are left with a little guilt.