🥛 Dates with Milk (Tamr bil Haleeb)
Tamr bil haleeb is the simple pairing of soft dates with a glass of warm milk scented with cardamom. The dates are sweet and sticky, the milk creamy and fragrant, and the two are eaten together rather than blended. In the Gulf it is a traditional suhoor before the Ramadan fast, a quick breakfast and a soothing evening snack.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 soft dates (about 50 g)
- 250 ml milk
- 2 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
Method
- Warm the milk with the crushed cardamom over low heat until steaming, without boiling.
- Leave to infuse for 2 minutes, then strain into a glass.
- Pit the dates if you like and serve them alongside the warm milk.
How to make it lighter
- Use skimmed or low-fat milk to trim calories while keeping the creaminess.
- Count your dates: each soft date adds roughly 20–25 kcal.
- Skip extra sugar in the milk; the dates and cardamom give enough sweetness and aroma.
History
Dates and milk have been everyday foods of the Arabian Peninsula for centuries, and the combination is closely tied to Ramadan customs today. It remains a common suhoor across Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Kuwait and the wider Gulf.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →