Recipe for a Successful Ramadhan- Are you ready?

Assalamualaykum warahmatullah wabarakatu. I can't believe that it's almost that time of the year again. So much has happened since the last Ramadhan, some were with us for the last one but won't be witnessing this coming one. Even I am not guaranteed to reach it, no one is. One can only pray to Allah (SWT) to keep us alive and in good health till it arrives. Which brings me to the question-how are you preparing for the Month of Mercy? The month in which for Allah's Mercies, the gates of paradise are opened, that of hell is closed, the devils are chained and one of it's nights is worth a thousand - Subhanallah! This month is an opportunity to increase our good deeds but for us to make the most of it, we need to be prepared! No ramadhan should ever be the same; we should aim for this Ramadhan to be our best so far by acting like it is our last. And although we pray to Allah that we witness many more - one will eventually be our last. Allow me to share some things that can be done to prepare for ramadhan so as to make the most of it.

Repentance: seek forgiveness and purify your intentions making sure that you are doing this for Allah and Allah alone.

Dua: ask Allah(SWT) to allow you reach the month and make the most of it.  It was reported that some of the salaf used to spend the 5 months after every ramadhan praying to Allah to accept it and then the 6 months after that asking Allah to allow them reach the next one. Make dua that Allah makes it easy for you as well- it's going to be 19-20 hours fast if you’re in the UK so start making plenty of duas for Allah to make it easy for us all.

Fast: complete any obligatory fasts that you're yet to make up if you are able to and try to fast some of Sha’ban. Aa'ishah(RA) said: the Messenger of Allah(SAW) used to fast until we said: He will not break his fast and he used to not fast until we said: He will not fast. And I never saw the Messenger of Allah (SAW) complete a month of fasting except in Ramadhan and I never saw him fast more in any month than in Sha'ban.

Qur'an: read it - lots of it! Get into the habit of reading the Quran. Remember Qur’an is food for the soul of a muslim.

Distractions: take things that will distract you away now before Ramadhan comes so that when it arrives you can easily concentrate on acts of worship. Make your environment a place that worshiping Allah will be easy. Make a list of what you want to achieve - write it down so as to have a proof of your achievements.

Knowledge: seek it. Learn about ramadhan and its virtues; this way you can really appreciate it and know how best to spend your time during the month. Several institutes are offering courses on Ramadhan at the moment and now is the best time to make the most of it.

Shop: do your ramadhan/Eid shopping now, not only do you have more time to spend worshiping Allah, you also save money as a lot of Islamic stores have ongoing sales at the moment. In fact your good old Asda/Morrissons/Tescos have already started rolling out special Ramadhan offers which tells you that even they realise how important it is for muslims, albeit for a different reason.

Part of preparing is to plan your days properly so as not to spend so much time in the kitchen preparing iftar, sisters especially. Now is the time to buy/prepare some of your dishes-no I'm not joking (provided they can be stored and you have the storage space). A rule of thumb is that anything you can buy from the stores in the form of frozen food can be made at home yourself – then you can store it. That way, you not only save money, you also get to set your own expiry date and know what exactly is going in the food. We’ve started preparing the ramadhan food in my house, hence the recipe. When I said we, I meant I watched,learned and took pictures of it being made since it was the first time I’ve seen this prepared. 

Chapli kebab 

What you’ll need (Approximately 20 pieces)

1 medium sized white onion - chopped

1 bunch of spring onions

4-6 green chilli – finely chopped (+/- depending on how spicy you want it)

3 lb minced meat

2 eggs

*100g Chapatti flour

2 tbs Corn Flour

2 tbs Gram flour

1 cup of fresh coriander leaves ( Dhaniya) finely chopped

2 tsp salt (according to taste)

1 tbs garam masala

*1 tsp crushed mint

*1 tsp ginger (Adrak) paste 

1 tsp red chilli

*1 tsp crushed cumin (zeera)

(* optional)

Preparation

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl . 

If you're frying immediately then I'd say leave to marinate in the fridge for 2 hours but as we're freezing just go to the next step.

Make into palm sized cutlet - it should be about the size of a large burger.

Oil a freezer safe tray and put the cutlets on them. Your chapli kebab is good to go in the freezer, nice and ready for ramadhan. When you’re ready to eat, fry or grill for a healthier choice. Why not even fry some now for a taster?

Insha Allah, I would post some more recipes before ramadhan. In the meanwhile, check out Abu productive’s ramadhan doodle below and be sure to visit and bookmark the website for excellent tips on maximising your time to get the best out of ramadhan

Picture from http://www.productivemuslim.com/ project as well as http://productiveramadan.com

May Allah grant us the chance to reach it.