It's sweet, warm, milky and just the thing to ward off the chills on a wintry Hamilton day.
But the bowls of fine vermicelli noodles studded with nuts and splashed with hot milk that Anjum Rahman is serving for visitors isn't just any dish. This is sevainya, a dessert-like celebration food served only at Eid.
"Sevainya represents Eid for us," says 52-year-old Anjum, who was made a Member of the Order of NZ Merit on Monday and has lived in Hamilton since 1972.
"It's a special dish because Eid is a chance to celebrate our achievement in fasting and to reward ourselves."
Eid means festival in Arabic and there are actually two Eids – the first, Eid-al-Fitr, means "festival of breaking of the fast" and is, as the name suggests, a celebration at the end of Ramadan, a month when many adult Muslims fast.
Eid-al-Fitr will happen in New Zealand either this Wednesday or Thursday depending on the sighting of the new moon.
The second festival, Eid-al-Adha, happens just over two months later when many Muslims travel to Saudi Arabia in what's called the Hajj Pilgrimage.
"At Eid al-Fitr, we eat mainly rich, sweet dishes," says Anjum's mother, Qamar. "But at Eid al-Adha, it tends to be more savoury dishes."
Both Eid celebrations share some similarities – worshippers gather together to offer prayers just after sunrise, followed by visits to friends and family, often while wearing new clothes and feasting on food that sometimes takes days to prepare.
For Anjum, who came to New Zealand when she was five from India via Canada where her father studied soil science, that can mean visiting up to 10 houses on the morning of Eid, and it's customary to eat something at each.
"By the time we get home, we're pretty full," she laughs.
In the afternoon, it's the turn of friends and family to visit them.
"It's traditional to have a full table. We tend to serve things like pakoras, samosas, chicken nibbles and Indian sweets."
And of course the sevainya, which Qamar makes the day before.
"I spend around an hour chopping all the nuts before making the sweet syrup and preparing the vermicelli noodles," she says. It's then all combined and left to soak overnight.
"Sevainya is far too sweet to eat on its own, so we serve a few tablespoons in a bowl and then pour hot milk over it before serving."
Although Eid can be an expensive time, financial assistance is available for families who may be struggling to fill their tables, says Anjum.
"We collect $10 from each person who is employed the morning of Eid and that money is distributed to people who don't have much. In that way, everyone can have something for Eid."
This year's Eid holds special significance for Kiwi Muslims, given the events of March 15, she adds.
"This is the first major festival since the Christchurch attacks, so it will be a difficult time for those families. But Eid is a community celebration and those families will be surrounded by community and people who will help them."
HOW TO MAKE SEVAINYA
Ingredients
3 cups sugar 3 cups water 250g ghee (clarified butter) 2 packets fine vermicelli 4 or 5 cardamom pods A cereal bowl full of chopped nuts and seeds - pistachio, almonds, cashew nuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds.
Method
First make the syrup. Put the sugar and water into a pot and boil for half an hour, or until half the water has evaporated. Put the ghee into another pot and heat. Take out the small black seeds from the cardamom pods and add to the ghee.
Add the nuts and seeds and the two packets of very fine vermicelli, crushed into small pieces. Constantly stir on medium heat until golden brown. Add the syrup to this pot, and simmer for 20 minutes.
To serve, put two tablespoons of the cooked mixture in a small bowl and fill the bowl with hot milk (and a little cream, if desired).
- Sharon Stephenson
SOMALI DISH A MEMORY OF HOME
At Eid, 24-year-old Sadik Said remembers home with the Somali comfort dish, soor.
He hasn't seen his home in Kismayo, Somalia, or his family – mum, dad and four siblings – in 9 years. He fled conflict in his homeland when he was just a teenager. But now, thanks to the UN refugee agency and the New Zealand immigration quota, the 24-year-old is living in Wellington, looking forward to a bright future and the prospect of being reunited with his family one day.
"I'm very happy to be here and I've got a future in front of me. I'd like to go forward. I'd like to study first english language, and then I'd like to go to university to complete my dream of studying IT."
Every year since he was 10, Said has fasted from sun up to sun down during Ramadan. But at the end of the month he would bust out the sweet treats to celebrate Eid-al-Fitr, the end of the fast.
In Somalia that meant dishes like halwo, a variation of turkish delight and a firm favourite of Said's.
"We have two Eids, the first will be after Ramadan's finished. Then we go to the mosque to pray, and after that we'd visit family and friends and we will have sweets to celebrate."
Said also looks forward to the classic Somali dish soor, boiled semolina or durum wheat topped with a tomato based sauce and vegetables or meat.
"You can add on as much vege as you like, or you can only add on meat. It depends. Some people, first they eat semolina with the sauce, and then with camel milk. It's famous in Somalia, absolutely.
"My mum used to cook for us, but now I'm trying to do it. Usually the parent would cook the food for us, but now because I am on my own I need to try and do it for myself."
Back home during Ramadan, Said would help mum, Saynab, with the food preparation for iftar, the evening meal. Eating a dish like soor here in New Zealand makes him feel close to that memory, to Somalia and his family.
He has already started the process for bringing his family to New Zealand to join him, but there's a "long road to go". He's been told it could be another two to three years before he sees them.
"I hope one day my mother can show me how I can make this food, so I can share it with you guys."
- Kylie Klein Nixon
HANGI, SYRIAN STYLE
Abdal Maneem Kyassah was surprised by many things when he came to New Zealand as a refugee in 2017. But one thing stood out to the Syrian chef – the traditional Māori hangi.
"We do a similar thing in Syria where we cook the food in a pit in the ground," says 36-year-old Abdal, who arrived in Dunedin with his wife Faiha, 33, and three sons, six-year-old Ziad, Jood, 4, and two-year-old Magd.
The meal he's talking about is Mandi chicken, where big pots of rice are placed at the bottom of the pit, then covered with chicken that's been marinated in spices such as saffron, cardamom, cinnamon and star anise.
The ground is then covered up, with the steam cooking the food and the fat and juices from the chicken (and sometimes lamb, goat or camel) dripping into the rice.
Although the dish originated in neighbouring Yemen, Abdal says it's popular in Syria, where it's cooked for special occasions such as Eid.
"I'll be cooking it this year and again when we have an open day at the Dunedin mosque as we want all our Kiwi neighbours, not just Muslims, to come and experience our food and culture."
Abdal trained as a chef in the Syrian city of Hama and spent five years working at the JW Marriott Hotel in Kuala Lumpur before moving to New Zealand where he says he's always felt at home.
It's also why Abdal, who volunteers at the Red Cross teaching refugees to drive, felt confident enough to open his own business, which specialises in Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Asian food.
"We love New Zealand and Dunedin, and want to give back as much as they've given us."
HOW TO MAKE MANDI CHICKEN
Ingredients
1 tsp ground cinnamon 10 whole cloves 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp turmeric 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1 tbsp cumin 1 tbsp coriander powder 1 whole chicken with skin on salt, to taste 1 tsp lemon juice 1/2 tsp saffron colour Oil, as needed 2 cups Basmati rice 2 large onions, finely chopped 2 cinnamon sticks 4 cardamom pods 2 bay leaves 1 piece of coal
Method
Mix the cinnamon, 5 whole cloves, nutmeg, turmeric, cumin, garlic powder and coriander powder. This is the Mandi spice mix.
In a pot, cover the rice with water and set it aside to soak.
Marinate the chicken in the Mandi spice mix (keep 2 tsp aside), salt, saffron colour and lemon juice. Mix well, cover and keep in the fridge for two hours.
Next, place the chicken pieces in the oven tray and cook for 40 minute at 170 degrees Celsius.
Heat oil in a pan and fry the onions, 5 whole cloves, bay leaves, cardamom pods and cinnamon sticks on high until a light golden colour.
Add black pepper, salt, the remaining 2 tsp of the Mandi spice mix, 3 cups of water and the washed rice to the stock and mix well, cover and cook on high until the stock reduces.
Once the stock has reduced, cover with the lid and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Add a few drops of saffron colour to the rice. (You can also use saffron soaked in warm water).
Heat the coal on the oven element until it is red hot.
Once the stock dries, cover with the lid and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Add a few drops of saffron to the rice. Then place the chicken pieces on the rice and add the hot coal on foil with 1 tsp of oil and cover till the smoke settles. Serve on a large platter.
- Sharon Stephenson
'EVERYONE IN ZANZIBAR MAKES THIS DISH'
Roll the clock back six or seven years ago, and Asya Abeid had never heard of New Zealand.
The 35-year-old from Zanzibar, a cluster of islands off the Tanzanian coast, knew of Australia but that's as far south as her geographic knowledge went.
But then Asya met her now husband, Yunus, on Facebook. Yunus, also from Zanzibar, had been living in Auckland for 18 years, having married a Kiwi who died of cancer in 2010.
"At the time I was studying computer studies in the Ukraine," says Asya. "We struck up a friendship and Yunus eventually asked me to marry him and move to New Zealand, which is when I started Googling everything I could about this beautiful country."
Asya arrived in Avondale five years ago and she and her truck driver husband have since had two children, daughter Afnan, 4, and three-year-old son Yasir. Asya runs a business from home, making and selling African-inspired fashion and homewares.
The family, she says, marks Eid the way they always did in Zanzibar – with prayers and feasting.
"We start preparing food a few days before, which we'll eat after we return from the early morning Eid prayers."
For Asya, Eid isn't complete without biryani. Her mother made the simple but tasty meat-based dish for Eid each year and passed on the recipe, as Asya will also do one day.
"Everyone in Zanzibar makes this dish, no matter how rich or poor they are. If you can afford it, you put in more spices or more meat, whatever you can. For me, this dish represents the meaning of Eid, a chance to celebrate and share our good fortune with others."
HOW TO MAKE BIRYANI
Cook the masala and rice separately before combining.
Masala 1kg of meat, cut into pieces 1 tbsp ginger paste 1 tbsp garlic paste Salt, to taste 500g onions, sliced and fried in oil until a golden colour 2 tsp of cardamom 3 cinnamon sticks 4 cloves 3 tbsp cumin 2 tbsp lemon juice 250ml yoghurt 2 pinches of saffron 4 tbsp tomato paste 2 fresh tomatoes, grated 1 tsp turmeric orange food colouring 5 potatoes, peeled and halved, then fried until a knife can easily pierce.
Rice 3 cups of Basmati rice, washed 2 -3 times then soaked in warm water for a half an hour with salt. salt, to taste saffron and food colouring oil whole spices
Method
Clean the meat and place it in a bowl with the salt, ginger and garlic paste. Add half the fried onions, half the yoghurt, 2 tbsp oil, cardamom, cumin, half the tomato paste, lemon juice as well as a drop of orange food colouring and 1 pinch of saffron. Mix well then marinate overnight or for three hours.
After it has marinated, cook the meat mixture for 25 minutes on medium heat.
Heat some oil in a large pan, add the potatoes and fry until browned. Then, add tumeric, cinnamon sticks and whole cloves, together with fresh tomatoes and cook until tomatoes become a dry paste.
Next, add the remaining fried onions, the remaining tomato paste and yoghurt, to the potato mixture. Add 1 cup of water and the meat mixture to the potatoes, and cook for about another 25 minutes on medium heat or until the potatoes and meat are tender.
Bring three cups of water to the boil, and add a pinch of salt. Drain the soaked rice and add it to the water, then boil until the rice is almost cooked through.
Next, drain the rice and put it in a pot. Add 2-3 tsp of oil, then add 1 pinch of saffron and a drop of orange food colouring in the centre of the rice.
Cover the pot tightly and steam on a low heat for 15 minutes. Serve the rice with the masala on top.
- Sharon Stephenson
BREAK FAST WITH MANSEF
Mahmoud Moh'd loves Christchurch. "I feel like I belong," the 36-year-old chef says.
Moh'd packed up his life in Jordan and moved to New Zealand 13 years ago. Now, it's home.
It's been 20 years since he started his career as a chef, and two years since he took over Boteco Cafe and Restaurant. The sun soaked city fringe restaurant specialises in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food. There's fresh falafel, lamb shanks and moussaka galore. People come together to eat, listen to the music, and smoke shisha.
For Eid, Moh'd will be breaking the fast with mansef, a "very traditional" Jordanian dish. He says most people from the region, which includes Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Iraq, will know it well.
"Every occasion, we used to have that dish… If we have a festival, we have that dish. If we have a wedding, we have that dish.
"I'm a qualified chef, so it makes it even better" he adds, gesturing at a large plate, stacked high with yellow rice and tender, slow cooked lamb.
In the weeks after the March 15 shootings in Christchurch, Boteco also became a community hub, where people could eat, seek comfort and grieve. Two and a half months on, Moh'd is still in shock, but says the joy is starting to return.
"I still can't believe I can't see some people, [that] I can't see their face anymore."
"But the thing is we're strong and we believe," he says.
"You get up and have another day. You have to be optimistic all the time."
That, he says, is the premise of the religion: "It makes you strong, and it makes you have faith."
HOW TO MAKE MANSEF
Mansef is made with cubes of lamb, rice, unsweetened yoghurt, turmeric, parsley, almonds, and salt and pepper, says Moh'd.
"First, we wash the meat really well then we place it in cooking pot with some salt and pepper. Once it starts boiling you reduce the heat down and let it cook for an hour and half until the meat is fully cooked.
"Then you take the stock and mix it with the yoghurt until all dissolved. Cook the rice with the turmeric then add chopped parsley and the fried almonds on the top with meat."
- Kate Robertson