Chef and food writer Dina Macki fondly remembers a special festival, Qaranqasho, that’s part of her Omani heritage. It happens at Ramadan (mid March to mid April this year) and involves a magical sweet-savoury surprise that delights children and adults alike
One from the heart.
Qaranqasho is an Omani celebration that takes place on the 14th day of Ramadan, mainly across the north coast. Children dress up in traditional clothing and mothers prepare lots of nibbles and baskets of sweets, then open up their doors to all. We call it Omani Halloween, where all the kids go trick or treating – but without the tricks!
Everyone heads out after prayer time to visit friends, family and neighbours and collect sweets, little gifts and sometimes, if we’re very lucky, money. I got to celebrate one Ramadan as a child in Oman, and I still remember the excitement as we ran through the streets, looking to see how many sweets we could collect.
Ramadan, especially at →
Qaranqasho, is the only time of year you’ll see khaliat nahal. It means ‘honeycomb’ and it’s a sweet, yeasted bread with a honeycomb shape. The recipe is found in both Oman and Yemen. The bread is always filled with cheese, but the syrups drizzled over differ from family to family.
My Auntie Nasra always made khaliat nahal instead of sweets. She’d set out whole trays of it on a table and wait for the children to run up, tear away their part and eat it on the go. Even as adults, we still want this bread at Ramadan; we know what’s hidden inside, but there’s still a joyful element of surprise.
Khaliat nahal (Omani honeycomb bread)
Makes 20 balls
Hands-on time 45 min, plus proving and cooling
Oven time 20-25 min
• 400ml whole milk, plus 2 tbsp
• 14g fast-action dried yeast
• 650g plain flour
• 120g caster sugar
• 2 medium free-range eggs
• 200g mozzarella
• 200g cream cheese
• Sesame seeds to sprinkle
• Sea salt flakes to sprinkle
For the syrup
• 200g caster sugar
• 2 tbsp runny honey
• Juice ½ orange
• 4 cardamom pods, crushed
1To make the syrup, put all the ingredients in a saucepan with 170ml water. Put over a high heat and bring to the boil. Boil for exactly 10 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to cool completely. Don’t stir the syrup while it’s boiling and make sure it’s completely cooled before you u
