653403 Sat Sep 19 03:13:27 -0700 2009 6 31 Home Cooking 0 5041552 What are you making or serving for Eid al Fitr? On day 1, we are invited out, so I am just keeping shami kababs and some sweet shop bought Arabic and Pakistani sweets on hand just in case we have people stop by. I made the shami kababs before Ramadan started and froze them. The sweets will be bite size cashew as well as pistachio baqlawa from a nearby Lebanese bakery. The Pakistani sweets will be from Punjabi sweet chain Nirala, a mix, but heavily dominated by gulab jaman and moti choor laddoo. On day 2, I am making chicken qabuli pullao, dahi bhallay, and kheer. All is homemade but the kheer will be courtesy of Shan Kheer doctored up by double cream milk, some sweetened condensed milk, and fresh almonds, sultanas, and saffron. Yes, I know, kheer is so easy to do at home...but I like the convenience and the Shan kheer is pretty good. On day 3, well it will be leftovers from day, 2. So that is my culinary plan for Eid. Eid mubarak! Sat Sep 19 03:13:27 -0700 2009 118120 luckyfatima 1 5042215 eid mubarak to you, luckyfatima! your menu sounds delicious. :) Sat Sep 19 11:45:57 -0700 2009 5041552 64215 cimui 1 5047758 I went to the South Asian neighborhood to stock up and was inundated by volumes of Eid shoppers thronging in preparation. I made it back with handfuls of groceries and a new taqiyah. Tonight I made Pakistani-Mexican fusion huaraches with kheema and cheese on parathas. I was going to order sugar-free mithai from Sukhadia's, but I decided to hold off until I am entertaining guests later this week lest they go stale. We had birthday cupcakes instead today, so the holiday was still sweet. Eid mubarak! Mon Sep 21 19:11:16 -0700 2009 5041552 68363 JungMann 1 5048875 Belated Eid Mubarak! Your menu sounds lovely. Although I try to help out, Mom (my own) and my secondary moms (all the aunties in the community) run the show when it comes to food for Eid. We traditionally eat something sweet first thing in the morning, before prayer. Usually what we call shimai (typically called seviyaan....sweet, milky, cardamom-scented vermicelli pudding with water-soaked, peeled almonds and pistachios on top and a sprinkle of saffron) After prayer, there's usually donuts and similar snack cakes served at the prayer afterward. Usually, our family goes to someone's house for "brunch", but since we had early lunch plans, we went home for a "light" breakfast- -parathas (typically a rich, flaky fried bread, but my mom makes with much less ghee and substitutes oil for some of the ghee) -potato chops (patties of mashed potato flavored with ginger, cilantro, onion and minced hard-boiled egg- almost like aloo bortha, coated in egg/breadcrumbs and shallow fried) -a little leftover curried goat meat (mostly for the sauce to use for dipping) -simple tomato and onion salad -haleem (grain and lentil stew with lots of bony bits of goat meat thrown in for flavor) Yes, this is, comparatively, a "light" meal compared to some other menus! Lunch was at an auntie's house: buttery pilau beef curry with potatoes potato chops- these were stuffed with minced lamb salad (which appeared to be tossed with ranch dressing?) mixed vegetables (cauliflower, potatoes and cabbage sauteed in typical style with turmeric, cayenne and onions) a side of salmon, coated in tandoori spice, broiled and topped with cilantro chutney Doy (sweet, thick baked yogurt) Jelabi Dinner was much simpler- chicken biriyani raita tikka kabob (lentil and beef stewed together, ground to a coarse paste, stuffed with minced onion, chilies and mint marinated in lemon juice) It was all delicious- felt like a very special, blessed day! Tue Sep 22 08:47:45 -0700 2009 5041552 67581 4Snisl 1 5048999 4Snisl Khair mubarak. Are you guys Bengalis? I ended up going to a dinner party at a Hyderbadi Indian friend's home. It was a one-dish party. I brought biriani. They served a lot of Hydro stuff including mirch ka saalan, long peppers cooked in spicy sesame-coconut-peanut gravy anday ka saalan, hard boiled eggs in tomato gravy various kababs including seekh and tikkay chicken lollypop chicken pullao and some other things. I love Hyderabadi food! In sweets the hostess made a delicious sheer qorma, which literally means milk stew, but it is like a soupy thickened sweetmilk filled with nuts, some dates, and svaiyaan. Yum. Tue Sep 22 09:22:39 -0700 2009 5041552 118120 luckyfatima 2 5059415 I found out the name of the egg curry is not anday ka saalan but "tamaatar kut." It is mentioned and recipe given in madhur jaffrey's Taste of India, which I was perusing due to the COTM thread. The Mirch ka saalan recipe is also in that book. Fri Sep 25 22:44:41 -0700 2009 5048999 118120 luckyfatima 3 5060164 Yum- sounds great! Yep, our family is Bengali,and so are many of the families in the Muslim community where I grew up . What gave it away? :) Will have to look for that egg curry recipe- basic egg curry is supposed to be one of the easiest to make, and somehow, I always seem to get the johl wrong....no meat juices to transform everything/mask my spicing mistakes, I suppose. Also, ought to put in a special request and see how mom does it the next time I go home. I'm learning how to make more complicated stuff like biriyani and forgetting about the simpler and amazingly delicious dishes. Sat Sep 26 11:41:26 -0700 2009 5059415 67581 4Snisl