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Eid ul Adha – Memories, Ramblings, Food & Much More – Guest Post For My Halal Kitchen

Published: | LAST UPDATED ON: Sep 22, 2017 by Lubna Karim

Assalamvalekum…Warm welcome to the people who are reading this post and I thank Yvonne Maffei of My Halal Kitchen for giving me this wonderful opportunity to guest blog about one of my favorite festival Eid-Ul-Adha/Bakrid. You may be wondering by reading the word favorite…yeah I love Bakrid more than Ramadhan….Do you want to know why this festival has become so favourite to me…then let me take you back into my childhood and teen days….

Saffron Mousse
I don’t know why but for Bakrid all the family members use to gather at my Dadajaan’s house (Grand Pa’s house)….I don’t even remember from how long this tradition was running in the family….but from the time I knew, we always use to go to Grand Pa’s house two days before Eid. We cousins use to call this Eid time as ‘Mega Moment’…..as we all use to wait for this Eid desperately. The elder females in the family use to sit all together and prepare masala’s along with other necessary items which will be used on the Eid day…..where the males in the family take up the outside duty of buying animals for sacrificing & shopping for the required items needed for the Eid. My Grand Pa being the elder one in the Muslim community in my native, he had this tradition of throwing a huge party on the Eid night. This party will be opened to each and every person of the village…irrespective of age, gender, rich, poor and caste…When I asked my mom about this party…then she use to say, the poor who can’t effort to cook rich and delicious meal every time….can come and feast on good food at least once a year. This was the generosity of my dear Grand Pa.

Saffron Mousse
My Dadijaan (Grand Maa) use to call Sari & Dress wala at home along with Chudi (bangles) & Mehendi (Indian Tattoo) wala…which we girls use to love it to full. On the day of Eid no one in the family takes breakfast before Eid Namaz. Once the men of the house leave for Namaz, all the women in the family will gather to perform Namaz in congregation…Soon after Namaz everyone hug themselves and shake hands wishing each other Eid Mubarak and seeking blessings from the elder ones in the family….After this women hit kitchen to start making breakfast. The men from mosque directly go to the place where the sacrifice of animals takes place. They will send little meat to home to cook breakfast. The women who are already in the kitchen starts to make Roti and Kichidi. When the meat arrives, they will clean & make a delicious curry out of it & call men of the family to come & feast upon. It is ritual in my family to have breakfast from the meat of sacrificed animal. Later part of the day women will be busy preparing lunch which will be simple like…white rice, some leftover curries from morning breakfast, dal, papad, pickles and curd.

Saffron Mousse
After lunch women take pause from the kitchen and gather in the garden to chit chat and spend some time relaxing. At this time servants of the house take up the charge of massive evening party cooking. By this time meat arrives home, after getting distributed among poor and relatives. The meat which arrives at home is evenly divided into three parts where one part goes into the cooking for the evening party, the next part which is comprised mostly of bones will be made into soup for the next day morning breakfast and the reaming part which is boneless tender meat goes in marinating of Kebab’s.

Saffron Mousse
Here Kebab’s mean the sun dried form of meat. The boneless meat is cut into thin long strips and by dipping the hand in water these strips are neatly wiped and patted dried in a wide bottom vessel. These strips are then rubbed with salt, red chili powder, pepper powder, turmeric, garam masala and ginger-garlic paste. Using hands or large wooden spoons these strips are turned up and down until the mixture gets evenly coated. With the help of a needle and plastic wire which is thick enough to handle the weight of the strips….these strips are hanged with 2-3 cm gap in between each strip.  These are then tied up on the terrace or in open space where there is abundant amount of sunlight by covering with cheese cloth or very thin muslin cloth (this is done to avoid house flies to sit on them).

Saffron Mousse

We the children are asked to keep an eye on these as they can be snatched away by crows, cats, dogs, or even eagles. These marinated strips of meat are laid for sun bath for 2-3 days until meat gets harder and then these are neatly packed in sterilized air-tight containers. These can be stored for 4-6 months. All you have to do is to take out required amount of these and deep fry in oil till they turn good brown in color and relish. Now and then keeping these dried strips under good sun light increases shelf life of these dried Kebab’s.  My Grand Maa packs these in zip lock bags to everyone before leaving along with pickles and papads.

Saffron Mousse
By the time street lights start to glow my Grand Pa’s house illuminates with the festive lights which are used to specially decorate the house during the celebrations….People start to flow in and I can smell the aromatic biryani simmering over the wood and charcoal fire. Welcome drinks are served & long carpets are spread as it is custom at my Grand Pa’s house to sit on the floor and eat. Batch after batch food along with yum desserts are served. All the men & women in the family get busy serving, attending guests and checking on if everything is running smoothly and correctly….

Saffron Mousse
In a distance I can see my Grand Maa wearing beautiful light rose pink Punjabi suit with Zardosi border on duppata along with white pearl set and Hyderabadi Kada’s (Bangles)….chewing her saada paan ( Plain Betel) and smiling with her paan (betel leaf) painted lips….observing her children, grand children and great grand children with pride. As night dark, the party comes to end and people return to home with full tummies and happy faces showering blessings….All the family members who had hard day cooking, organizing and etc….are now relaxed and sit down to enjoy their share of lavish spread of dinner menu.

Saffron Mousse

My Grand Maa has made an tradition at home…where the new bride of the family has to cook something sweet for the family members and every one has to taste it and reward her with gifts and blessings…Keeping this tradition going on…last year, my dear Bhabhi (wife of brother) who had spent most of her school and college days in Dubai has come up with an extremely flavoursome recipe of Saffron Mousse….to my amazement everyone appreciated the recipe and applauded her….When I asked her the recipe, waiting to fill my bowl for the second serving…she graciously gave me the recipe along with tips…

Saffron Mousse
Head over to Yvonne Maffei’s My Halal Kitchen for rich, creamy and indulging Saffron Mousse recipe. Thank you Yvonne for the opportunity to do a guest post for My Halal Kitchen.
Saffron Mousse
HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF EID-ul-ADHA:
Eid Mubarak
 

Eid-ul-Adha (‘festival of Sacrifice’), also known as the Greater Eid, is the second most important festival in the Muslim calendar. It is called as Bakrid/Bakreed in India as Bakra means goat and Id means festival…Eid-ul-Adha celebrates the occasion when Allah appeared to Ibrahim in a dream and asked him to sacrifice his son Ismail as an act of obedience to God. The devil tempted Ibrahim by saying he should disobey Allah and spare his son. As Ibrahim was about to kill his son, Allah stopped him and gave him a lamb to sacrifice instead. The festival remembers the prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son when God ordered him to.

Saffron Mousse

Wishing you Happy and Blessed Eid-ul-Adha….Eid Mubarak! Please remember me in your prayers….

Comments

  7. Prathima Rao says

    Eid mubaraq Lubna!!! This is such a beautifully compiled post..Loved reading through wonderful memories and the tradition..The mousse looks so silky & divine..Heading over now to go through the recipe..Im sure it a keeper..
    Prathima Rao
    Prats Corner

    Reply

  18. Mélange says

    What a lovely hearty and astounding post dear Lubna..It was like watching from first person..Seems you have gone real nostalgic..Worth an effort..Cheers and Eid Mubaraq to you and family,

    Reply

  24. catering in kuwait says

    Belated Eid mubarak Lubna and HApPy DiWaLi…in advance…:)
    I wanna drag this Mousse
    suprb pics..
    I'm expecting alot of varieties from you for this "FeStIvAl of LiGhTs" "DIWALI"……:)

    Reply

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