My childhood recollections of Eid are related to the wealthy, creamy style of Semaiya Kheer or vermicelli pudding, additionally known as Shimuiyer Payesh in Bengali.
Eid Mubarak! Festivities herald plenty of assorted feelings… feelings of togetherness, recollections of childhood and hope for the longer term. There’s nothing like celebrating a competition like Eid in a metropolis like Dubai, the place individuals from all around the world have come collectively and made it their houses. The phrase Eid means ‘festivity’ in Arabic. Every yr when Eid is well known after the holy month of Ramadan, town of glitz readies itself to welcome greater than two million guests over the festive weekend!
Childhood recollections of Eid carry within the candy style of Semaiya Kheer or vermicelli pudding, additionally known as Shemuiyer Payesh (above) in Bengali. Payesh or milk pudding has a variety of significance in a Bengali’s life, specifically Chaaler Payesh, or the rice pudding. It is the primary initiation of stable meals when an toddler will get able to embark on her/his momentous non-milk meals journey and inherits the wealthy culinary heritage of Bengali meals (do learn all about in my earlier post). The introduction of semaiya to Bengali delicacies occurred organically with the Islamic affect in Bengal. In 1857 AD, after the Awadh kingdom (modern-day Lucknow in India) was annexed by the British, the Nawab was exiled to Calcutta, which is at this time’s Kolkata. His ardour for connoisseur meals traveled from Lucknow to Calcutta and was nurtured, garnished and fuelled by his particular Bawarchis or the Chefs of the Nawab. Mughlai meals has since then turn out to be a part of Kolkata’s culinary heritage.
I’ve at all times related semaiya with Eid celebrations. The shimuiyer payesh that I’ve eaten at most Bengali houses, is made very like the rice pudding. The shimuiyer payesh, nonetheless, is sweetened with sugar and Gur or jaggery is seldom utilized in it. It can also be much less dense. The Sheer Khurma (above) is extra fashionable amongst our Muslim associates, each from India and elsewhere within the subcontinent. The sheer khurma is a thicker model of shimuiyer payesh with a extra beneficiant quantities of dried fruits. Saffron, rosewater and Vark, edible silver foil are sometimes added. Sheer khurma is a very fashionable festive breakfast with Parathas, specifically Laccha Paratha – a sort of paratha having a number of layers and lapped generously in Ghee. Another fashionable variation of semaiya is the chilly beverage – Falooda which itself is an adaptation of the Persian dessert Faloodeh. This may be very fashionable in Iran, Pakistan, North India and Afghanistan. The rosewater flavoured falooda (under) that we had in Haridwar continues to be lingering on my tastebuds!
Eid in Dubai
With greater than two million vacationers anticipated over the Eid weekend, Dubai basks in all its glory. Cultural applications, varied occasions, particular Eid menu in several eating places – the weekend guarantees to be an entire lot of enjoyable. Leading buying malls are open twenty 4 hours. More than half of the expectant vacationers are from the GCC nations alone – an thrilling information for the tourism and F&B trade. Nothing can beat a metropolis immersed in its personal beat because it celebrates a neighborhood competition.
Eid al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha
Whereas Eid al-Fitr marks the top of the fasting month of Ramadan – the Islamic holy month of dawn-to-sunset fasting, Eid al-Adha means ‘solemn festivity’, also called the Greater Eid or Eid al-Zuha. In India, it’s known as the Bakhri-Eid or the Feast of Sacrifice.
The latter is a crucial four-day non secular vacation celebrated by Muslims worldwide to honour the willingness of the prophet ʾIbrāhīm (Abraham) to sacrifice his younger firstborn son Ismā’īl (Ishmael) as an act of submission to God, and his son’s acceptance of the sacrifice earlier than God intervened to offer Abraham with a ram to sacrifice as a substitute (wikipedia).
The essence of Eid to a non-Muslim like me
The great thing about rising up in a multicultural metropolis like Kolkata is that we grew up celebrating all festivals from all religions. Although I’m born in a Hindu household, on Eid, we flocked to the houses of our Muslim associates and pestered their mums, whom we addressed lovingly as mashis (which suggests aunties). Sumptuous meals of home-made Biryanis and Laccha Parathas have been adopted by endless refills of our bowls of shimuiyer payesh. This multi-cultural upbringing has formed not solely my character but additionally my very own philosophies in life as described in an earlier publish of mine – Living by the water with sunset as prop – Kolkata & Ganges.
During final Eid, we have been having fun with our summer season holidays in Kolkata – a interval I wish to ‘brand’ as my summer season hibernation as I’m going into my reticent inventive cocoon. I took the Z-Sisters to Mallick Bazar within the Park Circus space. This is actually a Muslim neighbourhood and the road-side kiosks have been filled with semaiya, combined dried fruits, firni mixes (a dessert pudding made with rice powder) and brightly colored glass bangles. The stacked up semaiya bundles seemed fairly surreal – as if, they have been fluffs of cotton wool blown by the festive breeze.
A bit of boy manning one of many kiosks got here operating to me – ‘Didi amar photo tulben?/Sister, do you want to photograph me?’ He instantly bombarded me along with his subsequent query -‘Apni ki kono bideshi magazine theke?/Are you working for any foreign magazine?’ He received upset that I used to be taking photos… emni emni/similar to that. He instructed his friends, ‘Dhoot char to didike… ja ja shob byabshay lag!/Forget her… go and mind your businesses!’
Since we weren’t shopping for any semaiya nor any dry fruits that day, or since I didn’t work for any international journal… I used to be declared fairly hopeless. I want I had met this younger lad this yr as I might have impressed him with my food column with Gulf News. We had deliberate to purchase Haleem or Halim (a particular Ramadan dish made with wheat, barley, meat) from one of many two fashionable eating places on this space – Shiraz and Rahmania. Haleem is a delicacy and is cooked in massive portions in an enormous aluminium cooking pot. In the Park Circus and Mallick Bazar space, there are a lot of alleys and small eating places the place one can discover lengthy queues for haleem throughout this Ramadan time. We too queued up for haleem and took a couple of containers residence. Along with haleem, we additionally devoured the scrumptious Firni made by mum-in-law. Set in small earthen clay pots, firni is unquestionably one in all my mum-in-law’s signature desserts.
Semaiya Kheer or Vermicelli Pudding
Ingredients
100 gms semaiya or vermicelli (Semaiya packets are simply present in most supermarkets round Dubai)
2 lts full cream milk*
1 cup sugar (use much less sugar in case you are utilizing sweetened condense milk)
4 cardamom pods, crushed into powder
¼ cup cashew nuts, unsalted
¼ cup almonds, slivered
¼ cup raisins, soaked in water
2 tsp pistachios, for garnishing
4 tsp ghee or Indian clarified butter
a drop of mitha attar (obtainable in Al Adil supermarkets and spice outlets within the Spice Souk in Deira)
* You might substitute this with low-fat milk. Many choose to make use of sweetened condense milk – in that case you will want a lot much less milk (1 ½ lt low-fat milk, ½cup sweetened low-fat condensed milk).
Method
- Heat 3 tsp of ghee in small wok. Break the mounds of semaiya into smaller parts and stir in ghee barely till the semaiya turns gentle golden
- Boil milk in a Dekchi/a flat bottomed pan. Stir continually is required in order that the underside of the pan doesn’t get burnt. (Dekchis are normally used for cooking rice. Please notice that Payesh is at all times made in utensils meant for cooking rice or stored individually and hasn’t been used for every other kind of cooking. This is due to the susceptibility of rice grains to catch the odour of different cooked gadgets which can overpower the fragile aroma of the dessert dish being made.)
- Add semaiya when the milk involves a boil. Keep stirring to thicken the milk and prepare dinner the semaiya.
- Add cardamom, sugar, cashew nuts, almonds, raisins and sweetened condense milk (in case you are utilizing the latter).
- Lower the temperature and carry on stirring till the Milk thickens (this could take about 45 minutes to an hour).
- Add some ghee and mitha attar.
- Garnish with pistachios, extra raisins, almonds and cashew nuts which have been barely pan roasted in ghee.
Some choose to eat their payesh smoking scorching, simply after it has been taken off the hearth! If you aren’t one in all them, let the Semaiya Kheer set for some time and refrigerate it earlier than serving.
Loads of us dwelling in Dubai are fortunate sufficient to be with our family and friends. There are many nonetheless, who aren’t. I used to be as soon as having a dialog with one of many taxi-drivers of Dubai Taxi. He was speaking a few rice that’s made throughout Eid in his residence in Pakistan the place a particular kind of rice is cooked in masala. He was saying how he missed the parathas which are made for breakfast throughout festive days and different celebrations. He was reminiscing how his youngsters refuse to have their regular subah ki chai – morning tea with out these parathas. Yes, he missed the sheer khurma dearly that his Ami / mom makes.
I’m hoping that his feelings and greetings attain his youngsters at residence. I’m additionally hoping that the Eidi (cash given to the youngsters for purchasing presents throughout Eid) that he’s despatched residence was being utilized by properly by his youngsters with their hearts full of love for this father who was toiling away from residence. The angst of a doting father is an common phenomenon, isn’t it?
My prayers for peace and happiness going out to everybody, specifically for individuals struggling within the war-torn areas world wide.
Unblogging all of it… Ishita
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Recipes which are excellent for Eid: Kolkata Mutton Biryani Firni or Ferni - The broken rice pudding Lachha Paratha – Love and ghee in every layer
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