All about kanji that is consumed for Ramzan in South India

Discover the traditional and comforting nonbu kanji, a staple of iftar meals during Ramzan in southern India.

The delicious dishes prepared for evening iftar and pre-dawn suhour meals during the Islamic month of Ramzan have become a subject of food tourism, especially on social media, where kebabs, samosas, rolls and a myriad other fried snacks rule the roost, alongside sugary milkshakes and juices.

But crowning it all, quietly, is the nonbu kanji, a mushy porridge that is prepared fresh every day in Muslim households and mosques across southern India.

Consumed only during iftar, when the day’s fast comes to an end, nonbu kanji is comfort food for the abstaining soul, aromatic like biryani, but without the grease and curried aesthetics of the rice dish. It is considered to be easier to digest after long hours of abstinence from food and water.

The kanji’s variants include the Arab gruel ‘harees’, and, closer home, the Hyderabadi ‘haleem’ and ‘khichra’. All these recipes involve slow cooking wheat and lentils with butter and seasoned mutton, beef or poultry to a mash.

The nonbu kanji’s warm and fuzzy presence on the iftar table makes it the perfect foil for accompaniments like samosas, pakodas, mint chutney, or pickles.

“No matter how many dishes one makes, the nonbu kanji remains a staple of the iftar menu. In South India, where it is regularly prepared in neighbourhood mosques as well as homes during Ramzan, each street can have its own distinctive style and flavour,” says Hazena Sayed, a food blogger from Tirunelveli who has documented 300 traditional recipes of the Ravuther Muslim community, and runs the sautefrynbake.com website.

“My knowledge of cooking is a blend of my mother’s recipes, with a link to her Keralite heritage, and my mother-in-law’s Tamil style of food preparation,” says Hazena, who grew up in Coimbatore.