What's cooking for Easter? Of Vindaloo, Xacuti and Duck Gravy tales

IllustrationAmit BandreGoans A Peri Peri good Easter Goans are very pious about the Lent Many give up indulgences in various ways I am happy that like with Christmas the Easter services are treated with piety and reverence rather than the focus on being the frills of festivity Much of the lead up to Easter is a time for reflection on the passion of Christ and selfexamination On Easter day there is reason to celebrate the end of the Lenten periodEaster eggs are most popular as a food indulgence Both children and adults enjoy Easter eggs of various confectionaries As with any feast day there is the Goan food spread Mutton Xacuti Prawn Balchao Fish Peri Peri Chicken Cafreal and many other vegetarian dishes in the afternoon and a possible Easter dance in the evening Since marriages are not normally celebrated till Easter the feast opens the calendar for personal and public celebrationsWendell Rodricks fashion designerEast Indians Stuffed over the Vindaloo At Easter the entire family has a meal together as this is a culmination of the 40 days of abstinence and celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ Food plays a very important role at Easter as everyone looks forward to the Easter dinner The menu for dinner is purely made of East Indian cuisine with specialties like Chicken Stuff Roast Pork Vindaloo and Mutton Stew Roast Lamb preparation with RosemaryThe masalas used and the method of cooking is different giving it a very distinct flavour Both items are usually served with East Indian deepfried breads aryas and Fugias both are slightly sweet fermented and spongy While Fugias are of the roundshaped variety Varyas are shaped like donuts The family also comes together at noontime for a prayer and blessing of their home with Holy Water Besides the food the children at home especially look forward to Easter eggs We also share Easter eggs with children of our relatives So its always like a family affair Gleason Barreto Coordinator Mobai Gaothan ProjectAngloIndians Pencil Skirts for Duck Gravy We have a tradition of making Easter eggs out of marzipan and chocolate I grew up in a joint family in Byculla watching my grandmother making it at home we never bought it from outside We would also create decorations for the Easter egg basket including yellow chicks made using cut strips of straw and old crepe paper We would also decorate real eggs they were drained through a small hole of yolk and then we would paint on them which were then kept on the shelvesOn Easter there was dancing and games For lunch there was Pulav Kofta Curry Chicken Curry Duck Gravy in Orange Sauce Rice Vindaloo Green Chutney Papad with Chocolate Pudding with Custard Sauce for dessert The items were a mix of traditional Indian fare and Western dishes thus offering the best of both culturesSadly most of these traditions have died out except perhaps in smaller pockets like Jabalpur AngloIndians settled in great numbers around Railway colonies who keep the tradition alive Another essential aspect was the crockery and table etiquette A famous aphorism about the AngloIndian community is that they live to eat and not eat to live So the focus was on dressing up and enjoying a feast We would wear new outfits pencil skirts were in vogue shoes and hatsEvery family would cook plenty of food and so we always welcomed extra guests who would drop by Usually they were AngloIndians or Goan Catholics who are interconnected and share similar customs Back then Byculla was a hub for AngloIndians and everyone knew the restThere were no telephones and people would drop by without any intimation This year for the first time there will be an AngloIndian Ball in the evening 6 pm at the St Peterrsquos School Basketball Court Mazagaon itrsquos not just for the AngloIndians those with friends in the community can drop in too especially those who love their Jazz Waltz and Jive Blossom Lilywhite President The AllIndia AngloIndian Association Mumbai BranchAround the world gtThe roast lamb dinner that is common for Easter Sunday dates to earlier than Easter to the first Passover of the Jews The sacrificial lamb was roasted and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs in hope that the Angel of God would pass over their homes and bring no harm As Hebrews converted to Christianity they brought along this tradition Christians refer to Jesus as The Lamb of God Itrsquos how traditions mergedgt In the UK US Germany Denmark Netherlands Lithuania Egypt eggrolling is a traditional Easter eventgt Greeks and Portuguese eat Round flat loaves marked with a cross and decorated with Easter eggs Syrian and Jordanian Christians have honey pastriesCompilation Soma Das Hassan M Kamal amp Ruchika Kher