Writing 101, Day Ten Happy( Eid-al-Fitr meal)

Today’s prompt: Tell us something about your favorite childhood meal— the one that was always a treat,that meant”Celebration” or that comforted you and has deep roots in your memory.

Free free to focus on any aspect of the meal, from the food you ate to the people who were there to the event it marked.

Today’s twist: Tell the story in your own distinct voice.

Every year after a long fasting month, we celebrated “Eid-al-Fitr.” My mom was a good cook and my Dad was a fussy eater. We the kids, all twelve of us anxiously waited for the day which meant new clothes and delicious food.

On this day Mom cooked Chicken Korma, Spicy Mutton, heavenly Pilaf and Salad. The salad was prepared with sliced tomatoes, cucumber, thinly sliced onions and hot green chillies, mom took special care for making this one, she’d slice the vegetables, combined them and sprinkled lime juice in the end.

For my mom cooking was a pleasure, the chicken she cooked was not spicy, she used onions, garlic, ginger, salt, a dash of sugar, ground coriander, cumin, clarified butter and little pieces of cinnamon sticks, green and brown cardamom.When she had all the ingredients ready she’d put it on the stove, while the chicken was simmering, she’d turn her attention to mutton.

Mutton was the dish we all loved, it had all the hot spices, when it was nearly cooked, she’d add some sliced potatoes and tomatoes. All the dishes she cooked she always used yoghurt, let me tell you this ingredient  was the reason why the food tasted so good.

The last thing she cooked was pilaf, she used a special rice named Basmati.

My mom was an expert, she always completed her cooking in an hour. When all the food was cooked, the table was set and we all sat down to eat.This was a special meal for a special day for us it was heavenly and when the day was over we’d look forward to the next ‘Eid-al fitr!

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Food Image from wikipedia

365 Writing Prompts: Food for the soul(and the stomach)

Tell us about your favorite meal, either to eat or to prepare. Does it just taste great, or does it have other associations?

My favorite meal is the one my mom cooked for our special celebration of “Eid al Fitr,” it’s a day after one month of Ramadhan, there was a lot of things about this day which made us happy, we wore new clothes,my Dad gave us money and my mom cooked the most delicious meal for us.

Now when I think about  those days it makes me sad , because our parents have passed away and we the siblings live in different cities.

I try to cook the same meal Mom cooked, it’s probably not as good as my mother’s but I do try.

Rice is our staple food, so the menu will always have rice, because it’s a special day I cook rice pilaf.

Recipe for rice pilaf:

Ingredients:

1. Rice–2 cups basmati rice( wash and drain the water an hour before cooking)

2. onion –1 small( slice small pieces)

3. Clarified butter– half cup

4. salt — one and a half teaspoon

5.peas fresh or frozen — 3/4 cup

6.water– 3 cups(boil before pouring on the rice)

Spices:

1. cinnamon stick– one, half inch long

2. whole cardamom– 4

Method:

In a saucepan pour the clarified butter, onion, cinnamon,cardamom, salt , fry the spices and onion until the onion is transparent. Pour the two cups of washed rice for about two to three minutes to fry it in the same saucepan. Pour three cups of water and let the ingredients come to a boil, finally add the peas and continue to boil for another minute. Lower the heat to simmer , cover the saucepan and let the rice simmer for twenty minutes.Turn the heat off  remove the saucepan and place it on a mat for five minutes. Then serve.

Next is chicken korma recipe the way my Mom cooked it.

Ingredients:

1. One whole chicken—cut in small pieces

2. Yoghurt– half cup

3.Onion– two medium size(blend into a paste)

4. ginger fresh— two tablespoons

5. fresh garlic paste — two teaspoons

6.ground coriander–one teaspoon

7. ground cumin—one teaspoon

8. salt to taste

9.clarified butter or oil—quarter cup

10. sugar– one and a half teaspoon

11. cinnamon stick–1 inch long ( break it into smaller pieces).

Method:

Heat the oil or clarified  butter in a wide pot on top of the stove, put the onion paste, garlic and ginger, fry for five minutes, add the cumin , coriander , cinnamon sticks  and salt , fry two to three minutes more, gradually pour half cup yoghurt stir gently while pouring, next put the chicken pieces, stir until the pieces are coated with the onion mixture. Cook it in medium heat for twenty minutes, uncover and sprinkle the sugar, turn down the heat to minimum and cook about ten minutes more.Serve it in a dish.

My mom cooked chicken and rice, it was our favorite meal, she also cooked beef which was hot and spicy, for salad she used cucumber, tomatoes, onion, salt and lime juice and a few hot green chillies. they were sliced and tossed in a bowl . We enjoyed the meal with our family and always looked forward to next year.

p://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/365-writing-pr…nd-the-stomach/

 

 

 

 

DP Daily Prompt: The transporter

English: Hui family celebrating Eid (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Oh the childhood is the best years of my life! I can remember my Mom’s cooking it was unimaginable. It was a special day for us,we were celebrating,”Eid ul Fitr” it was when Ramadhan ended and we wore new clothes and were waiting to eat. My Mom was cooking,Pilaf,Kebabs,Beef curry, Lamb chop and of course the cucumber salad.The scent of her cooking was in the air.It seemed the needles of our miniature,”Big Ben” stopped in its tracks.If it was up to us we would change the time,so we could start eating. We behaved like a bunch of kids from a famine stricken land, back and forth we ran to check the clock which was not moving like we wanted it to.

Finally,it was noon and our servant started setting the table. At that point I’m not sure we cared how he arranged the plates.We were ready to eat,my Mom just had to say the word,we were all there in a flash to eat the delicious cooking of my Mom’s food.Those were the days,we were innocent,lively and enjoyed eating and playing.

I wish the clock would go back and let us once again experience the joy we felt when we were young.

English: Muslims looking for the new moon to mark the Eid al fitr, the end of the month of Ramadhan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)