Ramadan, Week Two menu
Ramadan Week Two Menu — Keeping Iftar Interesting
By the second week of Ramadan, the household routine is set but appetite for the exact same harira every night can start to fade. Rotating in rfissa or a different soup, while keeping the constants — dates, chebakia, mint tea — gives the fast some variety without abandoning what actually works. This menu is built for the middle stretch of the month, when cooking energy needs managing as much as the food itself.
The menu
Soup rotation
Rfissa or bissara in place of harira, once or twice this week
A change from the nightly harira, using ingredients already in the kitchen — lentils for bissara, chicken and msemen strips for rfissa.
The constant
Dates and milk
Kept the same every night regardless of what else is on the table, since it is the fixed opening of every iftar.
Sweet
Chebakia from the freezer batch made earlier in the month
If a large batch was made in week one, this is where it earns its keep — no fresh frying needed most nights.
Savoury pastry
Briouats, from the freezer if prepared ahead
Same logic as the chebakia — shaped and frozen earlier, fried fresh in minutes rather than made from scratch each night.
Something different
A simple grilled or pan-fried fish night
A lighter change of pace partway through the week, since a steady diet of heavy tagines can wear thin by day ten or so.
To drink
Mint tea and a rotating fresh juice
Keep changing the juice — avocado one night, orange the next — for a small variety that costs little extra effort.
Shopping list
- Chicken, lentils, msemen strips and fenugreek, for rfissa
- Split fava beans, for bissara
- Dates and milk
- Frozen chebakia and briouats, if a batch was made in week one
- White fish fillets for a lighter night
- Fresh fruit for juices — oranges, avocados or whatever is in season
- Onion, garlic and the usual soup vegetables
- Oil for frying the frozen pastries
- Gunpowder green tea and fresh mint
Prep timeline
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Start of the week
Check what is left in the freezer from week-one batch cooking, and plan two or three nights around it rather than cooking everything fresh.
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Mid-week
Swap in rfissa or bissara for one or two iftars to break up the routine.
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One evening
Give the household a lighter, fish-based iftar as a change of pace from richer tagines.
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Every night regardless
Keep dates, milk and tea constant — they are the anchor of the meal even as everything else rotates.
Host's tips
- Lean on whatever was frozen in week one — this is exactly what that early batch cooking was for.
- A single lighter night, such as grilled fish, genuinely helps against the heaviness that can build up by the second week.
- Rotate the soup rather than the sweets — dates, chebakia and mint tea are expected every night and rarely get tiring.
- If energy is low, rfissa is a good once-a-week option since it uses simple pantry ingredients and mostly cooks itself.
Questions about this menu
Why does Ramadan cooking often change by week two?
The initial routine of a nightly harira can feel repetitive after the first week, and cooking fatigue sets in, so many households introduce variety — a different soup, a lighter fish night — while keeping the fixed elements like dates and tea unchanged.
What can replace harira for variety during Ramadan?
Rfissa, built on chicken, lentils and msemen strips with fenugreek, or bissara, a simple split-fava-bean soup, are both traditional alternatives that give the iftar table some change without abandoning the tradition of starting with a soup.
Is it normal to eat lighter some nights during Ramadan?
Yes — many households deliberately plan one or two lighter iftars a week, often built around grilled or pan-fried fish, to balance out the richer, more indulgent nights and avoid the fast feeling heavier than it needs to.
Does freezing pastries in week one actually help later?
It helps a great deal — briouats and chebakia both freeze well, so a batch made early in the month means several nights in week two need only frying or reheating rather than cooking from scratch.
Learn to cook this menu with a local in Marrakech
Every dish here is taught, hands-on, in a Marrakech cooking class — or taste them across the medina on a guided food tour.