Ramadan recipes: Saudi chef Faisal Al-Deleigan’s roasted pumpkin soup
Updated 24 April 2021
Chef Faisal Al-Deleigan
MANAMA: If you’re struggling to find the perfect creamy — but not too heavy — soup to open your iftar with, this dish is a winner.
The roasted pumpkin gives this satisfying soup an extra kick of smokiness, while the lemongrass cuts through with its signature freshness, adding an unexpected twist to a comfort food staple.
It’s a quick soup that doesn’t need fussy prep or hours of stirring on the hob and the imaginatively combined ingredients ensure that it’s far from your average bland pumpkin-based pot fillers.
Ingredients:
Olive oil, 1 tbsp
White onion (chopped), 10 gm
Garlic (chopped), 5 gm
Pumpkin (roasted), 200 gm
Lemongrass (chopped), 5 gm
Ginger (chopped), 2 gm
Coriander, 2 gm
Black pepper powder, 1/8 tsp
Sea salt, 1/8 tsp
Water, 1 cup
Garnish ingredients:
Sumac, 1/8 tsp
Coconut cream, 1 tbsp
Dill leaves, 1 piece
Method:
1. In a preheated oven at 220 Celsius, roast the pumpkin for 18 minutes after removing the skin and separating the pulp.
2. Add olive oil into a saucepan. Add onion, garlic, ginger, lemongrass and sautee until color changes. Add roasted pumpkin and water and cook for 5 minutes on a medium flame. Finally, add coriander.
3. Blend for one minute or until it reaches your preferred consistency.
4. Garnish with coconut cream, dill and sumac and enjoy!
Producer Zainab Azizi hopes ‘Send Help’ will be a conversation starter
Updated 31 January 2026
Shyama Krishna Kumar
DUBAI: Afghan American film producer Zainab Azizi cannot wait for audiences to experience Sam Raimi’s new horror comedy “Send Help.”
In an interview with Arab News, the president at Raimi Productions kept returning throughout her interview to one central theme: the communal thrill of horror.
“I started watching horror from the age of six years old. So, it’s kind of ingrained in my brain to love it so much,” she said, before describing the formative ritual that still shapes her work: “What I loved about that was the experience of it, us cousins watching it with the lights off, holding hands, and just having a great time. And you know, as an adult, we experience that in the theater as well.”
Asked why she loves producing, Azizi was candid about the mix of creativity and competition that drives her. “I’m very competitive. So, my favorite part is getting the film sold,” she said. “I love developing stories and characters, and script, and my creative side gets really excited about that part, but what I get most excited about is when I bring it out to the marketplace, and then it becomes a bidding war, and that, to me, is when I know I’ve hit a home run.”
Azizi traced the origins of “Send Help” to a 2019 meeting with its writers. “In 2019 I met with the writers, Mark and Damien. I was a fan of their works. I’ve read many of their scripts and watched their films, and we hit it off, and we knew we wanted to make a movie together,” she said.
From their collaboration emerged a pitch built around “the story of Linda Little,” which they developed into “a full feature length pitch,” and then brought to Raimi. “We brought it to Sam Raimi to produce, and he loved it so much that he attached to direct it.”
On working with Raimi, Azizi praised his influence and the dynamic they share. “He is such a creative genius. So, it’s been an incredible mentorship. I learned so much from him,” she said, adding that their collaboration felt balanced: “We balance each other really well, because I have a lot of experience in packaging films and finding filmmakers, so I have a lot of freedom in the types of projects that I get to make.”
When asked what she hopes audiences will take from “Send Help,” Azizi returned to the communal aftermath that first drew her to horror: “I love the experience, the theatrical experience. I think when people watch the film, they take away so many different things. ... what I love from my experience on this film is, especially during test screenings, is after the film ... people are still thinking about it. Everybody has different opinions and outlooks on it. And I love that conversation piece of the film.”
