During Ramadan most hotels and restaurants feature iftar and sahoor buffets. They all try to offer a unique variety of food and unique methods of presentation. In Review, we will feature one restaurant and hotel in Jeddah each week along with one or two of their special recipes for Ramadan.

Al Bilad Hotel is located in northern Jeddah overlooking the Red Sea. French executive chef Daniel Mast has been in Saudi Arabia for nine years and has been at the Al Bilad for four. “We start preparing iftar around 1:30 or 2 and at 5 we begin setting up the buffet in the open terrace which has a view of the sea,” Mast said to Arab News. Eight different buffet menus have been prepared and in addition to traditional Ramadan treats such as sambosa and foul, there are traditional dishes such as roast lamb, lamb kapsa, biriyani rice and kebab. There is a choice of two soups, with one of them usually lentil. There will also be between 12 and 15 live cooking stations including a Chinese wok, Mongolian corner, Pizza, shawerma, grill, paella corner and curry dishes. Arabic desserts and sweets such as baklava, kunafa and Om Ali are also featured. The buffet is SR95 per person.

Shrimp Curry

(2 persons)

300 gm Pealed Red Sea shrimps

100 gm Onion

2 Tomatoes diced

10 gm Garlic

5 gm Ginger

15 gm Curry powder

5 gm Turmeric powder

25 gm Coriander leaves

3 Cardamom seeds

2 gm Cinnamon sticks

3 gm Green chili

1 DL (4 Oz., 1/2 cup) Coconut milk

1/2 DL (2 Oz., 1/4 cup) Fresh cream

20 gm Butter

20 gm Olive oil

1. Fry the onion, tomato, garlic, and ginger for 3 minutes.

2. Add the curry, turmeric, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon and

green chili.

3. Add the coconut milk and the cream and cook for another

15 minutes.

4. Fry the shrimp in 20 gm butter and 20 gm olive oil.

5. Add the curry sauce and cook for 3 minutes. Add salt and pepper as necessary. Served with spinach tagliatelli.

Samaka Hara (Spicy Fish)

300 gm hamour fillet

50 gm onion

50 gm bell pepper

50 gm celery

50 gm carrot

100 gm tomato sauce

salt and pepper

60 gm (quarter cup) olive oil

20 gm butter

1. Fry the vegetables in olive oil for 5 minutes.

2. Add the tomato sauce and salt and pepper and cook for 10 minutes.

3. Fry the hamour fillet in butter 3 minutes on each side.

4. Present the hamour fillet in a nice platter and cover with vegetables served with buttered rice and lemon.