Arabic & Levantine Pantry Guide
Suhoor ideas: filling pre-dawn meals for Ramadan
Traditional suhoor meals focus on simple, filling foods that take minutes to set out before dawn and do not leave you thirsty during the day: ful medames, labneh, eggs, za'atar and desalted white cheese. Keeping a prepared breakfast tray in the fridge makes waking up for suhoor much easier.
Warm dishes and cold mezze for suhoor
Ful medames is the classic warm dish for suhoor across the Arab world: slow-cooked fava beans mashed with lemon juice, cumin, garlic and olive oil or tahini, scooped up with warm flatbread. Boiled eggs, eggs fried in ghee or a quick shakshuka are also common. For a no-cook table, families serve bowls of thick labneh drizzled with olive oil, green za'atar, hummus and white cheeses such as akkawi, nabulsi or braided majdoula.
What to add and what to skip before fasting
Sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, fresh mint and yoghurt round out the meal, often followed by a small piece of sesame halva or a few dates. To avoid thirst during the day, households skip salty pickles such as torshi, very spicy condiments like shatta and heavy fried foods, and soak brined cheeses in cold water beforehand.
