Eid is recognized as a religious holiday, which is celebrated in Islam. Among the two Eids, Eid-al-Fitr is known as the ‘sweet Eid’ whereas, Eid-al-Adha as the ‘savoury Eid’. Moreover, aside from being known as ‘sweet Eid’, Eid-al-Fitr is also acknowledged as the ‘Festival of Breaking the Fast’. Therefore, it is fitting to say that Eid-al-Fitr is a festival all about sharing and appreciating food as well as happiness.
Holding onto this fact, ‘dawats’ or invitations during Eid-al-Fitr is quite popular among Muslims. During the one-month-long fast, Muslims develop the habit of cherishing the blessing and availability of food. As such, the appreciation of food is, in a sense, overflows during Eid as it is this time when family, relatives, and friends will get together and enjoy delicious Eid cuisines with each other. Hence, the menu for Eid is carefully selected and prepared in every Muslim household.
That being the case, let us look through popular Eid cuisines and menus for our own Eid menus.
Appetizer
Most of the time the guests during Eid would be relatives and close friends. As a result, Muslims prepare varieties of appetizers to either whet the appetite or pad the empty stomachs of the guests at first. Moreover, as Eid-al-Fitr is known being called as ‘Sweet Eid’, sweet dishes take priority here. For example, Shemai or Boeber, Payesh or Kheer, Firni, Halwa, various sweets such as chomchoms, barfis, gulabjamuns, roshmalai, and various kinds of pithas are used as starters to welcome guests. Most of these dishes are made of milk, flour, aromatic rice, butter, sugar, vermicelli, dates, a variety of nuts, and sometimes coconuts.
Besides sweet dishes, various savoury dishes also make a debut during appetizers. For example, Egg rolls, Vegetable rolls, Vegetable pakora, Meat pithas made of flour and meat strips, and Samosa are considered popular choices of savoury dishes served to welcome the guests.
As for, what types of drinks that go with these sweet dishes? Most of the popular choices of drinks which are served along with appetizers are various kinds of sharbats, lemonades, and fruit juices. Most of the time, these drinks are served cold so that the guests can relieve the summer heat and cool down.
Main Course
After the appetizer, now comes the time for the main course, which can be either lunch or dinner. Most of the time, the Eid menu for lunch and dinner does not differ much, if not at all.
The main course for Eid lunch or dinner is heavily dependent on rice or various dishes made of rice. For example, Biryani, Khichuri, and Pulao. All of these are rice dishes however the difference between them and plain rice is the use of different kinds of rice such as plain rice or aromatic rice, and different types of spices such as turmeric powder, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf, black stone flower, mace, nutmeg, kapok buds, and fennel seeds.
The second main item in the main course is different types of meat and fish curries. For example, Chicken roast, Spicy chicken, beef, or fish curry, fried fish, different kinds of korma such as chicken, beef, egg, and shrimp, and Kabab. Oftentimes, these dishes have a complicated blend of different spices. As such these dishes are tasted spicy and quite heavy on oil.
Furthermore, because the dishes in the main course are quite heavy in terms of calories and oil, the selection of drinks for this time around is also done with careful deliberation. For example, soft drinks such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, 7-up, and Sprite are served because the carbonation in soft drinks permeates the stomach so that the gases inside can free up and remove the existing air, and make room to consume the remaining food. Apart from soft drinks, there is another type of drink which is also served alongside, such as lassi. This drink is made of yoghurt, water, sugar, a little bit of salt, and different types of spices such as roasted cumin seed powder, and black salt. Sometimes, lassi is also blended with seasonal fruits such as mango, apple, and banana.
Dessert
Towards the end of our delicious Eid menu comes the time for desserts. Now, desserts in the Eid menu can be of different kinds. Here, the sweet and savoury dishes mentioned above can also be used and served as desserts towards the end. However, aside from them, they are also other choices of desserts. For example, Fruit custard, Egg and caramel pudding, Crème brûlée, Sweet yoghurt, different kinds of cakes and pastries, and Fruit salad or platter can be considered alternative sweet dishes to be served as desserts. As for the savoury dishes, Panipuri, Bhelpuri, Potato or lentil puri, and Chaat can be considered as alternative options.
Furthermore, there are also different alternative options for drinks to go with the desserts. For example, various kinds of coffee drinks such as black coffee, cappuccino, and latte, milkshakes, and smoothies can also be an alternative to soft drinks and fruit juices.
To conclude, ‘dawats’ or invitations during Eid is the prime time for family, relatives, and friends to appreciate food and share happiness together. For this reason, the selection of the Eid menu is an important fact as well as the part and parcel when it comes to celebrating Eid.
