Eid-ul-Adha Mubarak with 15+ Yummy Eid Recipes

Grey clouds, pouring rain and cool breeze….made me to pull my feet under a warm blanket and settled down to read by sipping hot chocolate. But as I lay on bed my thoughts took their own route and drowned me in a nostalgic line where we use gather for Eid and celebrate it with much fun and love. As the memories start to flood, I slowly kicked my blanket and moved to sit before my laptop to pen down my Eid day at home.

Eid is always been a family affair. Relatives and friends come and go exchanging wishes and gifts, cooking feasts, shopping and reading salah altogether, which I love the most was mostly would be any typical Eid day will look like. As you all know Eid ul Fitr is celebrated after fasting in the month of Ramadan for 30 days whereas Eid –ul-Adha is celebrated on 10^th day of Dhul’Hajjah, the last month in Muslim Calendar and also marks the end of Hajj (Pilgrimage). On this day the qurbani meat is evenly distributed in three equal parts. One is for poor and needy, second is for relatives (distributed irrespective of poor or wealthy) and friends and third is for home.

At that time, we use to give qurbani in our backyard, by the time men are back from Eidgah (place where Eid namaz is performed)…we women in the family perform namaz at home and get into work by packing the meat for friends, relatives and for poor and needy . I still remember how my grandma, mom and aunt use to pack meat in separate bags for everyone to distribute. It is used to be a day long affair. In the process we also receive qurbani meat from many others. As the quantity of meat is more, one of us in the family will sit and slice the boneless meat into thin long strips, which is washed and then kept in big strainer to drain all the water. To this ginger-garlic paste, red chili powder, garam masala, salt and turmeric powder is rubbed and then tied to a string and left to dry under hot sun by covering with a thin layer of cloth (cheesecloth/old washed cotton saree) for 3-4 days. After much sun drying the meat will turn stiff, sometimes we use wooden pestle and soften the dried meat before deep frying ….We can store this in a sterilized jar for 3-4 months. Just take the required amount and heat 4-5 tbsp. of oil and when it heats up deep fry this dried meat strips until crisp and serve with rice and dal. These are called Sukke Kawab. (Will update the pics once I receive my share of kabab’s)

In many houses, breakfast on the Eid day will be Kaleji ka Salan and roti. Afternoon is for biryani and in the evening we will get busy making sukke kawab’s. Been a kid, I use to run up and down the stairs helping my uncles and aunts to tie the meat to dry. In some houses biryani is prepared in the evening and by evening women in the family will go out to meet relatives to exchange festive greetings and gifts. Bakrid/Eid-ul-Adha is a three day affair, some families give qurbani on next day of Eid, depending on the availability of qasaab (the person who cuts and cleans the meat). These days as many are staying in apartments, a mutual ground or open area or farm is allotted in many areas for performing qurbani. Meat for the poor and needy is directly getting distributed from there; keeping the modern man busy time into consideration, things are changing rapidly.

We make small packs of nearly 300-500gms of meat and store them in deep freezer to use later. Some make shamiya/Shami Kabab and keep them in deep freezer to fry them later, some meat is made into kheema (mutton mince) and placed in freezer bags. With almost ¾^th of the qurbani lamb meat bones, a big pot of Nihari will be cooked overnight to be served in breakfast for next day. For some days meat is used in many recipes like Arbi Gosht, Aloo Gosht ka Khorma, Ambada Gosht, Aloo-Methi Gosht,  Bhendi Gosht , Chukka Gosht, , Gosht ka Mahekhaliya , Kheem Fry, Gavar ki Phalli Gosht, Sem ki Phalli Gosht, Tamatar Gosht, Turai Gosht, , etc; Happy Eid to all….Have a safe and blessed Eid-ul-Adha…

NOTE: You can find a pictorial post on how to make sukke kawab in colder places at Zaiqa.net.