7 Simple Healthy Iftar Recipes For A 1200 Calories Per Day Meal Plan

Are you like me?

Looking for simple and healthy iftar recipes to throw mediocre cooking talents at in this Ramadan month?

Hehe, I’m sure you’re so much better than me but hey this post goes out to those that want to make this blessed month of Ramadan a healthy and productive one.

So picture this.

I’m a petite person that I literally can gain weight over night. I’ve got three kids in tow with the littlest one in that mama-cannot-leave-my sight stage. My cooking talent is mediocre (as mentioned) but I wanna lose weight!

Is this you too?

Awesome, I’m going to pour my heart and experience into this post. So let’s get started.

What everybody ought to know about how important it is to cook healthy iftar recipes

Especially if you want to start losing weight.

I love this video from Amanah Fitness that I found while browsing on Instagram. One particular section that I find important is where the body finds energy when you don’t eat during the day.

Check it out:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Amina Khan (@amanahfitness)

First of all, the body gets its primary store of fuels from the food that we have in our stomach.

But waitta minute!

We don’t have food in our stomach when fasting right?

Well yes we do.

Our energy to start the day comes from our sahoor when we are fasting. This keeps us energetic throughout the day. Once our sahoor is digested, the body will then tap into stored fat to fuel itself during fasting. Hence the weight loss.

This is where things start to get interesting.

A lot of people finds it easy to lose weight during Ramadan but finds it hard to keep it off once Eid comes around. Well why does this happen? Why do we lose 5kg during Ramadan but gain another 6 to 7kg right away after Ramadan?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the key is in the iftar.

If I may ask, what do you eat during iftar? A lot of Rice? Bread? Pasta? With a tiny bit of chicken or fish or worse beef on the side? How about veggies and fruits? Do you take those too?

So whats the secret?

Use this proven strategy to power up your healthy iftar recipes and burn off the fat

Did you know that you should actually break your Iftar into 3 smaller meals?

Yes, that’s right.

Once you break your iftar into 3 smaller meals, your body will find it easier to use those food as fuel instead of storing them as fat. Imagine if you eat one huge iftar meal… once your body had enough calories to be used as fuel the rest are just taken away and stored away as fat.

Which makes so much sense that we break our iftar into smaller meals. I personally do it 3 ways and it’s working wonders for me.

And here are my 3 meals:

1. The Evening Snack
2. The Main meal
3. The Supper

The Evening Snack

TIMING:
Smack bang when the azan can be heard and the sun is setting.

WHAT’S ON MY PLATE:
My favourite way to break fast is with a light evening snack. I’d have a cup of aloe juice, green tea sprinkled with chia seed and 3 dates.

I’ve go to say that I’m full right away with the fluid and energetic enough with the dates. As a family, we get our Maghrib prayers done right away before we sit down for the next meal.

The Main Meal

TIMING:
15 minutes after Evening Snack

WHAT’S ON MY PLATE:
I follow the quarter-quarter-half rule for this Main Meal.

A quarter of my plate would be rice, usually brown rice or basmathi rice. Another quarter would be my meats and plant proteins such as tempeh, tofu and egg whites. And finally half of my plate would be filled with colourful vegetables.

And starting to get in 2 litters of water for the day is crucial at this point. And so I’ve got my 2 litter bottle right with me.

The Supper

TIMING:
After tarawikh prayers, roughly 2 hours after the Main Meal

WHAT’S ON MY PLATE:
I don’t have a plate for this.

I would drink a protein shake so that I don’t lose so much muscle during the Ramadan fasting month. You can substitute this with an egg white omellete, youghurt or nuts.

And again, I would be finishing up on my 2 litters of water.

By the way, are you looking for a full day Ramadhan eating plan? I’ll do you one better 😉 Check out my post on a 7 days Ramadhan diet plan starting from sahur to supper.

Do You Do These Three Common Mistakes When Cooking From Your Healthy Iftar Recipes?

So let’s take a closer at what makes a great healthy iftar recipe.

I’m going to be focusing on the main meal where the bulk of cooking will be. There’s three things that you have to get right:

1. It’s ok to eat carbohydrates!

Choosing the type of carbohydrate, the right amount of protein and choosing the right way to cook the vegetables is of dire importance.

The first thing that most people will get wrong is not to eat carbohydrates at all!

No rice, no bread, no pasta, no fruits even in some cases. This is mental you guys! Your body needs these carbohydrates to be broken down into energy. In my experience, some people tend to lose muscle when they don’t get enough carbohydrates in as part of their healthy iftar recipes.

2. Which carbohydrate to chose from

And this naturally gets to the second common mistake, which is choosing the wrong type of carbohydrate to shop for.

I wrote this in much detail in this blog post. But basically you want to get wholemeal versions of your rice, bread and pasta.

And oh yes, swap those sweet desserts with fruits wont you? Thanks 😉

3. Do you have enough proteins on your plate?

Now the third common mistake is deciding on the right amount of proteins for your healthy Ramadan recipe. Malaysians would usually couple a tiny amount of meat with a mound of carbohydrates. This may have to do with our family upbringing of remembering the hard old days.

But it shouldn’t be this way anymore!

The right amount would the size of the palm of your hand. With this amount of protein you will feel full for longer and very satisfied with your excellent yet simple and healthy iftar recipe cooking.

Let’s get started on prepping for our recipes!

If You Don’t Prep For Your Healthy Iftar Recipes Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later

Preparing for your amazing cook-out is part of the process my friends. I really want to send out these tips that I’ve picked up over the years to keep your cooking process simple and enjoyable.

Shopping For Ingredients

If you are just getting started, travel a lot, going off for vacations during this Ramadan month or you may have a small fridge, shop for 2 days worth of food and save yourself some heartache.

I used to be super hyped-up about meal prepping for a week but I ended up wasting a lot of food because I find that they are not fresh by the third day or I just ended up not being at the house for a couple of days.

I’ve got friends who regularly have to borrow my fridge because their fridge is full! I’m ok with this but I would imagine that it’s terribly inconvenient when you wanna cook!

So two days max ok?

Tools That You Need

Bullet points are going to come in handy now 😉⤵️

• Steamer
• Magic Pan
• Non-Stick Frying Pan
• Small pot
• Rice Cooker
• Blender
• Utensils​​

That’s it. Don’t go crazy on this part.

Mad Plating Skillz To Work Out Your Meal Portion

Follow this picture and you can’t go wrong!

Alright now, for the first recipe.

Ready?

Healthy Iftar Recipe #1: Brown Rice with Chicken Breast served with Steamed Brocolli

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast (size: palm of hand)
• Lemon and pepper herb
• Brocolli
• Brown Rice

Directions:

1. Really simple, marinate the chicken breast with the lemon and pepper herb for 10 minutes.
2. Heat up the Magic Pan and place the chicken breast on the pan.
3. Cook until the meat is cooked through.
4. Meanwhile, steam the brocolli until the stem is soft.
5. Serve the chicken breast with brown rice and the steamed brocolli.

Healthy Iftar Recipe #2: Brown Rice with Udang dan Tempeh served with sliced cucumber and cherry tomatoes

Ingredients:

• Peeled prawns (size: half of palm of hand)
• Tempeh (size: half of palm of hand)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 small red onions
• Red and green birds eye chillis
• Cucumber
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Salt
• Olive Oil

Directions:

1. Wash prawn with water.
2. Slice the tempeh into 1cm width.
3. Finely slice the garlic, onions and chillis.
4. Heat up the Magic Pan and saute the garlic and onion together using olive oil.
5. Once those are soft, throw in the chillis into the pan to saute with the garlic and onion.
6. Once you can smell the aroma of chilli in the air, place the prawns in the pan and stir-fry until firm.
7. Next, put the tempeh in the pan and continue to stir-fry until the tempeh is golden brown on the outside.
8. Serve with sliced cucumber, cherry tomatoes and brown rice.“

Healthy Iftar Recipe #3: Brown Rice with Spiced Salmon Steak served with sliced baby carrots, peas and baby corn

Ingredients:

• Salmon steak (size: palm of hand)
• Paprika
• Cajun spice
• Garlic and pepper seasoning
• Baby carrots
• Capri beans
• Baby corn
• Brown rice

Directions:

1. Marinate the salmon with paprika, cajun spice, garlic and pepper seasoning and salt.
2. Heat up the Magic Pan and place the salmon on it.
3. Steam the baby carrots, capri beans and baby corn until soft (especially the carrots).
4. Serve the salmon and steamed vegetables with brown rice.

Healthy Iftar Recipe #4: Brown rice with Ayam BBQ served with stir fried mushroom and capcicum

Ingredients:

• Chicken breast (size: palm of hand)
• BBQ Seasoning
• Mushroom
• Capcicum
• Garlic
• Olive Oil
• Brown rice

Directions:

This is super simple you guys.

1. Marinate the chicken breast with the BBQ seasoning for 10 minutes.
2. Heat up the Magic Pan and place the chicken on it. Turn the chicken every 2 – 3 minutes until golden brown.
3. Stir fry the mushroom with the capcicum and garlic in a little olive oil.
4. Serve the chicken, vegetables with brown rice.

Healthy Iftar Recipe #5: Brown rice with Ikan Kembung Bakar served with sliced cucumber and cherry tomatoes

Ingredients:

• 2 small mackerel
• Cucumber
• Cherry tomatoes
• Salt

Directions:

Level 10 simple-ness!

1. Marinate the fish with salt for 10 minutes.
2. Heat up the non-stick pan and grill until brown.
3. Serve the fish with sliced cucumber, cherry tomatoes and brown rice.

Healthy Iftar Recipe #6: Brown rice with Ikan Bawal Emas Stim served with blanched beansprout

Ingredients:

• 1 Pomfret / ikan bawal emas
• Coriander
• Lemon (juiced)
• Lime (juiced)
• Beansprout
• Olive oil
• Salt

Ingredients for the yummy-ness fish soup:

• Garlic
• Large onion
• Lemongrass
• Young ginger
• Birds eye chilli

Directions:

1. Marinate the fish with salt for 10 minutes and then place into the steamer.
2. Slice finely the ingredients for the fish soup.
3. In a non-stick pan, saute the ingredients for the fish soup with olive oil.
4. Once you can smell the sauted items in the air, pour in the lemon and lime juice.
5. Let simmer for a few minutes before pouring the soup into the steamer.
6. Steam for 5 minutes.
7. Serve with blanched beansprout and brown rice.
8. Garnich with finely chopped coriander.

Healthy Iftar Recipe #7: Brown rice with Sup Ikan Tenggiri served with blanched spinach

Ingredients:

• 1 slice of Mackerel / Tenggiri
• Spice for fish soup / Rempah Sup Bunjut Ikan
• 5 Cherry Tomatoes
• Parsley
• Spinach
• 500ml water
• Himalayan Rock Salt
• Olive Oil

Ingredients to grind together:

• Garlic
• Onion
• Ginger

Directions:

1. Grind the garlic, onion and ginger together.
2. Heat up the non-stick pan and pour in a little bit of olive oil.
3. Saute the grounded ingredients until the aroma rises.
4. Place the spice for fish soup into the pan and continue sauteing.
5. When the aroma from the spice for fish soup rises, pour in the water and add in the salt to taste.
6. Once the soup starts to boil, add in the cherry tomatoes and parsley.
7. Let simmer.
8. Serve with brown rice and blancehd spinach.

Are You Ready To Make Your Iftar Recipes Healthy, Awesome And Amazing?

I know I am because I’m still such a noob (a word borrowed from my little one) in the kitchen.

However, I am so glad that lots of people around me are starting to change their way of thinking about food. Mindful eating as they say it.

And when this way of thinking gets around, lots of people will drop the weight but I think most importantly their quality of life gets higher.

Anywho, I hope you find today’s blog post helpful and so…

What are you waiting for!

Get to it people! ?