CHENNAI: As many in the city are preparing to get their hands on their favourite Easter bunnies, there are others who are religiously following the 50-day lent and waiting to welcome Jesus Christ. Observed three days after Good Friday, Easter marks the spirit of rebirth and life, and celebrates the resurrection of Jesus from his tomb after he was crucified.
“I have always cherished memories of celebrating Easter. I was the youngest of eight children in my family and I would observe my mother and sisters taking care of all the preparations,” says Celine Joseph, who along with her husband runs Celine’s Kitchen, a catering service base in the city.
Easter is special in every Christian household; spending a day in mourning on Good Friday, waking up early the day after to attend Easter mass, followed by waiting to get back home to dig into the food set on the table. “When I was younger, we would wake up to go for the 3 am mass and then come back, make appams and break our lent. Now things have changed— mass timings and duration have become shorter. But what has not changed is the tasty food that we make every Easter,” says Benny Joseph.
The Easter feast that follows the lent and Good Friday are most awaited in Christian homes. While the dishes may change in each country and/or state, what is common is the abundance of non-vegetarian dishes.
God’s own country, Kerala, celebrates Easter with its own platter of a seven-course meal ranging from a variety of appetizers to a long list of main course dishes. From the crispy beef/chicken cutlets to the fluffy paalappams and spicy duck roast, the Easter meal is sure to make every foodie go weak on their knees.
“We traditionally break our lent with the paalappam and duck stew.
That is followed by a heavy lunch in the afternoon where we have rice with beef, mor, kuttanadu fish curry, karimeen fry, chicken curry, and the list goes on,” explains Celine. She is from Kuttanad, which is in Alappuzha district of Kerala. “In Kuttanad, the main dish is the duck and karimeen, as both are available abundantly. They weigh more than what we get in the shops here,” points out Celine.
Although they stick to their traditional recipes, Celine admits that after moving to Chennai and cooking for people from different regions, she has added a few extra dishes to the list. “Some people want a few vegetarian dishes or may want a different kind of chicken curry,” she says. However, she mostly follows her mother’s recipes and refuses to tamper with them.
Karimeen Fry
Ingredients
● Karimeen: 1 kg (8 no.)
● Red chilli powder: 2 tsp
● Pepper powder: 1 tsp
● Turmeric powder: ¼ tsp
● Garam masala: 1 tsp
● Ginger: 1 tsp
● Garlic: 1 tsp
● Curry leaf: according to taste
● Salt: to taste
Method:
Make the ginger and garlic into a paste, mix it well with all the powder and just enough salt. Now pour ¼ glass of water (can also use coconut milk instead of water) into this paste and mix well. Apply this paste onto the fish and keep aside for 30 minutes. Now deep fry the fish in a kadai of oil, serve hot.
Paalappam
Ingredients
● Raw rice: ½ kg
● Coconut milk: split into two extracts (thick one - ½ cup and thinner one - ¾ cup)
● Sugar: 1 tsp
● Yeast: 1 pinch
Method
Wash and soak the rice in water for three hours. Then, grind the rice with yeast and sugar in the second extract of coconut milk. Take 2 tbsp of batter from this and boil well. Once it becomes thick, remove it from the stove and allow it to cool, before mixing it with the other batter and grinding it finely. Now, mix this with the first extract of milk and keep aside. After six hours, add a pinch of salt and make appams.
Duck Stew
Ingredients
● Duck (cleaned and cut into small pieces): 1 kg ● Potato: ¼ kg ● Big onion: ½ kg ● Green chilli: 5 no. ● Chopped ginger: 1 tsp ● Chopped garlic: 1 tsp ● Curry leaf: to taste ● Garam masala: ½ tsp ● Pepper powder: 1 tsp ● Coconut milk: split into two extracts (thick one - ½ cup and thinner one: ¾ cup) ● Vinegar: 1 tsp ● Coconut oil: 2 tsp
Method
Heat the oil in a pan, add the garlic, ginger and chilli. After sautéing it for a while, add onion and curry leaves. Saute till the onion is light brown and then put the flame on medium-heat and add garam masala and pepper powder. Mix well. Then, add the potatoes (boiled and cut) along with the duck into the masala and mix it well, until every part is covered. Bring the mix to a boil and add salt to taste, mix well and cover the pan with a lid.
Then add the second extract of coconut milk, bring it to a boil before adding the first extract of coconut milk. Mix it well for a few minutes before switching off the flame. After few minutes, add the vinegar. In a separate pan, heat little oil and add mustard and curry leaf and saute it well, before mixing it with the duck stew. The stew can be eaten with Paalappam.
Beef Cutlets
Ingredients
● Beef: 1 kg ● Potato: ½ kg ● Big Onion: ¼ kg ● Ginger: 1 tsp ● Garlic: 1 tsp ● Green chilli: 3 ● Curry leaf: to taste ● Bread crumbs: just enough ● Egg white: 6 no.
Method
Cook the beef with salt and a pinch of turmeric in a pressure cooker. Dry out excess water from it. Let it cool. Now grind the meat finely in a mixer. Boil the potatoes with little salt, peel the skin and mash it. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, sauté all the chopped ingredients into it and sauté well with a pinch of salt. Add garam masala and pepper into this,mix well and remove from the stove. Now, add the minced meat and mash potatoes into it. Make small balls out of it and put aside in the fridge for 30 minutes. Now, dip each of these in egg white and bread crumbs before frying them till they are golden brown in colour. Serve hot.
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