Ramadan TV picks 2017: Sarareed Khulood, La Totfea’ Al Shams and Ramez Taht El Ard

Sarareed Khulood

This is the fifth year running for chef Khulood Atiq to bring her particular brand of Emirati cuisine to screens during Ramadan.

With Emirati dishes about to become a standard fixture in the buffet spreads at high-end hotels across the UAE, there’s no better time to learn more about the cuisine of the UAE.

In her first episode, chef Atiq tackled one of the most important Ramadan dishes for Emiratis. Harees is a Ramadan staple, and makes an almost daily appearance on tables across the UAE during the holy month.

A whipped wheat dish traditionally made using meat and similar in consistency to porridge, chef Khulood presented a chicken-based version, after poaching chicken with cardamom pods to make a fragrant broth.

She also used the resulting harees as a base for a vegetable soup. Elaborating on Emirati customs – such as the importance of harees as a filling, comfort food for suhoor and how a particular type of immersion blender is required to reach the right consistency – is an essential part of the programme and an appreciated insight into the traditions of Emirati cooking. Additionally, an impressive line-up of Arab chefs will be joining her in future episodes. Foodies, keep an eye on this one.

• Airs at 2:30pm daily on Abu Dhabi TV

La Totfea’ Al Shams

Based on the thrilling novel by Ihsan Abdel Quddous, this Egyptian soap opera – The Sun Never Sets – features an all-star cast, headed by veteran actress Mervat Amin. She plays the role of an aristocratic widow and mother of five – two sons and three daughters.

After the father’s death, the mother finds it difficult to deal with her children’s lives: her eldest son Ahmed tries to keep his siblings in check, but eventually decides to join the army; her son Mamdouh is impetuous and unruly, her daughter Layla falls in love with her married piano teacher, and her younger daughters Fifi and Nabila are involved in love affairs with their classmates at university.

This is not the first time that Qudous’s acclaimed novel has been dramatised. It was previously adapted into a popular 1961 Egyptian romance movie starring Faten Hamama and Imad Hamdi, and presented at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1962. The film was also voted one of the best Egyptian film productions among 150 in 1996, and has always been an audience favourite – so it will be interesting to see how the story unfolds over 30 episodes and set in the modern day, 50 years after the story was originally conceived.

• Airs at 10pm on CBC and 11pm daily on CBC Drama

Ramez Taht El Ard

One would think that Ramez Galal has run out of ideas when it comes to pranking celebrities into believing they are in near-death situations. Despite never-ending criticism of the Egyptian comedian's extreme pranks, the infamous show – Ramez Underground – has been brought back by MBC for its seventh season. Galal had picked up Abu Dhabi as this season's setting. "From the depths of the desert, from the capital of dreams, from Abu Dhabi," announces Galal, before introducing his unsuspecting guest – Egyptian dancer and actress Fifi Abdo.

Galal provides a running commentary of mockery behind the scenes, while Abdo is led to believe she is being interviewed for a Ramadan talk-show.

As she leaves, the vehicle she is in begins dune bashing in the desert in what appears to be the Empty Quarter, before the driver loses control of the 4x4 and lands in a swampy area full of quicksand.

The vehicle sinks, the driver appears to suffocate and die and mayhem ensues. Abdo is unable to stop screaming and slapping her face, repeatedly saying: “I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die ... I’m gonna get swallowed in the desert.”

Suddenly, a human-sized lizard appears, wandering out of the cave – it is Galal in a full-body suit. It is a wonder she doesn’t give herself an aneurysm.

Expect more of the same for the next 29 days of Ramadan, with confirmed guests including Shah Rukh Khan and Wael Kfoury.

• Airs at 9pm on MBC Masr and at 9:30pm daily on MBC.

artslife@thenational.ae