Celebrate Eid al-Fitr with these traditional southern Indian delicacies

Eid brings families together around the dinner table with a variety of traditional dishes and sweets.

As Ramadan draws to a close this week, home cooks in the Muslim community are reaching out for their special dishes on Eid al-Fitr, the worldwide festival of dawn-to-dusk fasting marking the end of the ninth Islamic calendar month. celebrated as ,

Eid is also a time for family celebrations. While Eid is said to be nothing more than ‘sheer khurma’, a fragrant milky concoction of roasted vermicelli and dry fruits or mutton biryani and slope Lentil and bone curry with yogurt and onion sauce, many other traditional dishes, especially sweet dishes from southern India, are prepared in Tamil Nadu.

boiled custard

“Every region has some dishes that are made for breakfast with typical local ingredients. In Tiruchi and Thanjavur districts, Jalar Vada (jali pancake stuffed with chicken filling) and Vattalappam It is served when the family gathers after the morning Eid prayer,” says S Faizunnisa Ansar, a Chennai-based Thanjavur homemaker. “sometimes simple Jalar pancakes and Vattalappam eaten together as a dessert.

Vattalappam It is a steamed custard of Malay origin that exists in many incarnations in Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. “At Thanjavur, we use the extract of the first milk of the coconut for best results. there are places where Vattalappam Even made with regular dairy milk,” says Faizunnisa, “vattalappam keeps well in the fridge for weeks.”

To thicken the pudding mix, she soaks one and a half tablespoons of raw rice and grinds it with cumin, fennel, cashews, poppy seeds, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon on an ammical to a fine ball the size of a lemon. paste. To prepare the custard base, six eggs are mixed with a cup of sugar (some variations use molasses), as well as coconut milk (about one-half cup) in an electric mixer, along with the ground paste. The mixture is filtered and poured into a greased mould, covered with a lid and pressure cooked for about 15-20 minutes. Once it is ready, it can be taken out of the mold and served in small pieces.

sweet treats

Dum adai, a popular Eid sweet from Kayalpattinam | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Coconut milk plays an important role in breathed out – a specialty of Muslim cuisine in Kayalpattinam – which resemble mini cakes. “Usually we have a heavy breakfast with non-vegetarian curry idiyappam, washed with javvarusi [sago] Payasam after Eid prayer dum adais They are sweet treats that we keep ready for visitors and festive snacking,” says Kayalpattinam-born caterer Aashika Kadar, who also makes sweets to order from home in Tiruchi.

Ease of ordering food and availability of exotic sweets like Baklava‘And kunafa Old recipes have been restocked in local shops.

But it’s clear that home cooks have always been experimenting with world cuisines. Muttai Paniyaram It uses a fermented dough of rice flour and semolina flavored with eggs, sugar and cardamom, which is shaped like a donut and deep fried.

Although it is easy to prepare, cooks must wait at least five hours for the dough to ferment.

“Many dishes that required coconut milk and hours of soaking have gradually been replaced by modern and more contemporary food during Eid. But these dishes have their own charm and nostalgic value,” says Aashika.

breathed out

Component

• Milk – 1 liter (boiled and reduced to 350 ml)

• Coconut – 4 (large)

• Semolina (rava) – 300 grams

• Flour – 100 grams

• Egg – 1

• powdered sugar – 350 grams

• Ghee – 150 grams

• Cardamom (ground) – 1 tsp

• Rose water – 2 teaspoons

• Chopped nuts – almonds, pistachios, cashews

• food coloring – green, yellow, pink

Method

1. Filter the grated coconut in a muslin cloth and take out the coconut milk.

2. Add semolina and soak it in coconut milk for three to four hours.

3. Add flour, sugar, milk, ghee, egg, cardamom and rose water.

4. Divide the batter into four portions in separate containers.

5. Add different food coloring to each portion of the divided batter and keep one portion white. Grease 15 to 20 mini tart molds with ghee.

6. Pour a teaspoon of each color mixture into the greased molds. You can experiment with the design and colors as per your taste.

7. Serve garnished with chopped almonds, pistachios and cashews.

8. Bake in the oven at 190 degree Celsius for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from mold and serve hot.

9. breathed out Can be stored in the fridge for up to 10 days.