Get hungry: Fruits of the fast

The quintessential sound of Ramadan will forever be samosas and pakoras being deep-fried an hour before sundown. When I was growing up in Pakistan, it was the only sound that carried over the noise of the TV as we waited for the televised countdown to sunset – that, and my mother’s voice as she called out to remind me to be on time. It tapers off as the call to evening prayer sounds – the signal that it’s time to break your day’s fast with iftaar, the sundown feast.

When I moved to Hong Kong in 2017, Ramadan sounded different: it was a phone alarm instead of the call to prayer that told me it was sundown. Instead of that bubble and hiss of oil, it was the clatter of dai pai dong and cha chaan teng diners that tempted me finally to eat again.

It was jarring at first, being at times the only person fasting in my social circle. So I began recreating dishes I grew up with, trying at least to preserve the tastes if I couldn’t hold onto the sounds. The first dish I tackled was the fruit chaat, a mishmash of whatever fruit is in season in your corner of the world when Ramadan and Eid roll around. This versatile dessert graces the table at many an iftaar. It’s easy to make – dice up your apples, mandarin oranges and melons, among others, and combine them with salt, spices and copious amounts of sugar.

My favourite fruit chaat always has grapes. Unlike the sweet, firm, juicy variety in Hong Kong, grapes in Karachi are small and soft, easily squishable between your forefinger and thumb, and taste almost like mini tangy lemons. Even now, a single spoonful of fruit chaat takes me back to my childhood, when I would scoop out the grapes from my bowl and save them for last. Once, when I was 11, my grandmother decided she didn’t like grapes and gave me hers. I still remember being very surprised at how many were in her bowl, when she didn’t even like them.

This humble dish is now the centrepiece of my iftaar table. It is a taste that unites the sombre quietness of the Holy Month with the rambunctious, energy-filled days of celebration. A taste that will forever remind me of home.