Bismillah Round Placemat {Tutorial}

May 24, 2019May 24, 2019 | acraftyarab

Day 19 of our Ramadan craft challenge has my daughter and I making a Bismillah Round Placemat while guest hosting at Muslimah Bloggers.

Last year I made them a Ramadan Lenticular Artwork and the year before I created some Eid Gift Card Printables.

I was so excited to see they are once again doing their 30 day Ramadan series as well. Make sure you follow along by stopping by and checking out the Bismillah Round Placemat we created for them.

Visit A Crafty Arab on Pinterest to see more fun Ramadan crafts.

Eid Aperture Card {Tutorial}

May 23, 2019May 23, 2019 | acraftyarab

Today’s task was to continuing to celebrate girls in STEAM by making these aperture Eid Mubarak cards for our Ramadan craft.

STEAM are Science Technology Engineering Art and Math focused education structures that try to highlight these fields in certain schools. A few days ago, we made a khatam atom caution sign. My daughter and I combined all these fields again today while talking about aperture cards, a type of punched card with a cut-out window into which a chip of microfilm is mounted.

While they are no longer being used, the same concept has migrated over to greeting cards and now many companies are selling pre-cut aperture cards.

My daughter made her own cards that spell out Eid Mubarak since Eid Al Fitr is less than two weeks ago at the end of Ramadan. Mubarak means blessed and the two words together are said as a greeting during celebrations with family and friends.

Supplies

Card stock already precut to card size, plus an extra half sheet
Double-sided tape
Washi tape
Die cut letters & machine
Scissors
Pencil or pen

I found these funky die cut letters at my local craft store but if you don’t have something similiar, you will need to hand cut the letters out.

My daughter had to run the card through the machine twice since there was only one A die cut.

Once all the letters were cut, she folded over the card and added double sided tape to three of the sides.

She slid the extra card stock inside the card to make slight marks with the pencil, then covered that area with the washi tape.

She wrote a note on the back of the cardstock before slipping it inside.

If you enjoyed making this Eid card, be sure to stop by these others ones we have made in the past

Eid Step Card {Tutorial}

Eid Mubarak Quilled Card {Tutorial}

Find more here: 99 Creative Eid Projects {Resource}

Or visit A Crafty Arab on Pinterest for more Eid ideas

Moroccan Harira Soup {Recipe}

May 22, 2019May 23, 2019 | acraftyarab

Harira is a Moroccan soup that is mostly eaten during Ramadan by residents but often made year round for visitors who want a local taste.

The name harira, derived from the Arabic word meaning silk, takes it’s name from the texture of the soup after it’s been thickened with the egg at the end.

While I was visiting Morocco, I was surprised at the different ways it was made. From the hotel in Rabat to the riad in Tétouan, they each had their own spin.

I wanted to try out my version tonight that I thought my family would like and they loved it. I used beef and my youngest said she would like to try it with chicken next time, while my husband wanted a version with no meat. We’ll keep playing around with it and if you do make it for your family, make sure to let us know!

Ingredients

1 pound beef
2 TB Olive oil
1 Onion
3 Celery stalks
3 Carrots
1 cup Lentils
1 can drained Chickpeas
Parsley bunch
Cilantro bunch
1 can Tomato sauce
8 cups beef bouillon/broth
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp cinnamon
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup rice
1 Egg
2 TB Flour
2 TB Lemon juice
2 cups water

I started by browning the meat in the olive oil.

Once it was done, I set it aside in my cooking pot and used the meat juices to cook the chopped onion. After five minutes of medium heat, I added the celery and carrots.

I also added all the spices and cooked everything for an additional five minutes.

Now that the celery and carrots had softened just a little, I added the meat mixture on top so I could use the pot to get the water mixture started. I boiled the eight cups of beef broth and added the chickpeas, lentils and tomato sauce. Once everything started to boil, I added the meat and other vegetables back in to simmer for one hour.

My timer told me after an hour that it was time to add the finally chopped parsley and cilantro and let that cook for an additional ten minutes.

While that was on the stove, I whisked together the water, egg, flour and lemon juice and slowly added it in for an additional five minutes.

The soup is wonderful with bread to help soak up the last few drops. Be sure to leave leftovers for the next day. One of my favorite foods for breakfast at the Rabat hotel was their harira and many Moroccans swear their favorite soup is best eaten as a leftover.