Halal Travel Guide: Ramadan 2025 at Beijing Balizhuang Mosque
Reposted from the web
Summary: This article looks back at Ramadan 2025 at Balizhuang Mosque in Beijing. It keeps the original community scenes, iftar details, prayers, people, and photographs in a clean English layout.
This is my third Ramadan at the Balizhuang mosque in Beijing. The atmosphere at the mosque is great and the food is delicious, so it feels worth it even when I have to squeeze onto the subway during the evening rush hour on workdays.
This year, the mosque put the post-prayer recitations for Taraweeh on a large whiteboard, which helps everyone recite together more smoothly. The benefit of praying Taraweeh at the mosque is that you follow the imam and do not make mistakes, whereas I sometimes lose focus when praying alone. Another benefit is the strong sense of community when we break our fast together, and it is very powerful when we all recite the post-prayer words together.
First, let me share the snacks and fruits for breaking the fast. You can eat various traditional Beijing snacks carefully made by the elders here, such as steamed rice cakes (aiwowo), candied yam rolls (tangjuanguo), glutinous rice rolls with bean flour (lvdagun), fried sweet potato (zha baishu), ginger juice fried dough crisps (jiangzhi paicha), salt and pepper fried dough crisps (jiaoyan paicha), lotus root with glutinous rice (nuomi ou), sticky rice cake (niangao), yellow rice cake (huangmi gao), jujube corn buns (zao wotou), pea flour cake (wandouhuang), and sugar ear pastries (tang erduo).
The dinner after the sunset prayer (maghrib) is also wonderful, featuring rice with stir-fried dishes, noodles with gravy (dalu mian), steamed buns (baozi), and fish head with flatbread (yutou paobing), which rotate daily.
Side dishes for the rice include fried meat (songrou), braised chicken legs (huangmen jitu), minced meat with green beans, braised eggplant, and braised meatballs. For soups and porridge, there is winter melon meatball soup, tofu puff soup, and mung bean porridge. Of course, fermented bean drink (douzhi) with fermented bean curd (ma doufu) is also a major Beijing specialty!
Once a week, we have noodles with gravy (dalu mian) and noodles with eggplant (qieding mian). The vegetable toppings include blanched cabbage, celery, cowpeas, bean sprouts, soybeans, cucumber, and garlic sprouts. The gravy is not too salty, which is perfect for breaking the fast.
The steamed buns (baozi) served once a week come in beef and green onion, beef and cabbage, and beef and fennel fillings. My favorite is the beef and fennel filling. Many shops now only sell fennel and egg steamed buns, so it is not easy to find beef and fennel ones.
Fish head with flatbread (yutou paobing) is also a Beijing specialty. The flatbreads (laobing) are made by the elders themselves and are very dense; they are delicious when dipped in the fish head broth.
After eating the fish head with flatbread, the leftover flatbread can be made into stir-fried flatbread (chaobing), which is also a favorite for Beijingers.
Summary: This article looks back at Ramadan 2025 at Balizhuang Mosque in Beijing. It keeps the original community scenes, iftar details, prayers, people, and photographs in a clean English layout.
This is my third Ramadan at the Balizhuang mosque in Beijing. The atmosphere at the mosque is great and the food is delicious, so it feels worth it even when I have to squeeze onto the subway during the evening rush hour on workdays.
This year, the mosque put the post-prayer recitations for Taraweeh on a large whiteboard, which helps everyone recite together more smoothly. The benefit of praying Taraweeh at the mosque is that you follow the imam and do not make mistakes, whereas I sometimes lose focus when praying alone. Another benefit is the strong sense of community when we break our fast together, and it is very powerful when we all recite the post-prayer words together.
First, let me share the snacks and fruits for breaking the fast. You can eat various traditional Beijing snacks carefully made by the elders here, such as steamed rice cakes (aiwowo), candied yam rolls (tangjuanguo), glutinous rice rolls with bean flour (lvdagun), fried sweet potato (zha baishu), ginger juice fried dough crisps (jiangzhi paicha), salt and pepper fried dough crisps (jiaoyan paicha), lotus root with glutinous rice (nuomi ou), sticky rice cake (niangao), yellow rice cake (huangmi gao), jujube corn buns (zao wotou), pea flour cake (wandouhuang), and sugar ear pastries (tang erduo).
The dinner after the sunset prayer (maghrib) is also wonderful, featuring rice with stir-fried dishes, noodles with gravy (dalu mian), steamed buns (baozi), and fish head with flatbread (yutou paobing), which rotate daily.
Side dishes for the rice include fried meat (songrou), braised chicken legs (huangmen jitu), minced meat with green beans, braised eggplant, and braised meatballs. For soups and porridge, there is winter melon meatball soup, tofu puff soup, and mung bean porridge. Of course, fermented bean drink (douzhi) with fermented bean curd (ma doufu) is also a major Beijing specialty!
Once a week, we have noodles with gravy (dalu mian) and noodles with eggplant (qieding mian). The vegetable toppings include blanched cabbage, celery, cowpeas, bean sprouts, soybeans, cucumber, and garlic sprouts. The gravy is not too salty, which is perfect for breaking the fast.
The steamed buns (baozi) served once a week come in beef and green onion, beef and cabbage, and beef and fennel fillings. My favorite is the beef and fennel filling. Many shops now only sell fennel and egg steamed buns, so it is not easy to find beef and fennel ones.
Fish head with flatbread (yutou paobing) is also a Beijing specialty. The flatbreads (laobing) are made by the elders themselves and are very dense; they are delicious when dipped in the fish head broth.
After eating the fish head with flatbread, the leftover flatbread can be made into stir-fried flatbread (chaobing), which is also a favorite for Beijingers.
