JOIN USChristmas is about elaborate feasting. No Christmas is complete without a classic pot roast lunch, homemade wine and cake baked in nuts, fruits topped with a tinge of brandy and of course, plenty of homemade traditional sweets.
True to the spirit the festival, different communities in the City have a different menu for Christmas.
Duck roast, pork, mutton and chicken rule the roost but the sweets are distinct in taste and flavour.
Metrolife interacts with a few families who say that they prefer to make the traditional sweets at home rather than buy it from stores.
Sahil, a student, is from Goa, and for him Christmas is nothing short of a party. Other then carol singing, decorating the Christmas tree and the crib, he looks forward to the sumptuous feast in true Goan style, complete with all conceivable delicacies.
“To begin with, the Christmas tree is decorated with candles, socks, sparkling stars and cotton flakes. We invite all our friends to partake of the festivities,” explains Sahil, adding that loud music, dance and non-stop revelry mark every Christmas season.
“There are a few signature sweets and savouries such as perad, guava jam, ‘cheese walnut drops’, bibinca, kokad, neuros and bolinhas that are made at home by my mother, only during Christmas time and I look forward to the food bit,” tells Sahil.
Jojomon Johny, an IT professional, confesses that the best part of Christmas is the food because a lot of people follow the month-long season of Advent until Christmas eve. Jojomon says that no Christmas lunch is complete without palappam and chicken stew.
“The feast on Christmas day is a non-vegetarian affair with appam and stew for breakfast. The lunch is a lavish spread with chicken biryani, pepper beef roast, fried fish molee and chicken cutlets. The meal begins and ends with plum cake and sweet wine,” says Jojomon.
Sara D’souza is a Mangalorean, who makes it a point to invite her non-Christian friends for a Christmas feast. Her mother makes all the traditional Christmas goodies like kalkals, ‘diamond cuts’, plum cake, wine — both ginger and grape wine and chaklis at home.
“My mother makes nauviri which is stuffed with dry coconut, dry fruits and sugar. The fruits are soaked in rum a month in advance. And we bake five or six cakes well before Christmas day to be distributed among family and friends,” says Sara.
“The other things on the menu are roasted chicken, pork vindaloo, mutton biryani, navratan korma, peas pulao with chicken curry,” says Sara.
Tina and Darshan love cooking and every Christmas they cook a variety of dishes in chicken, pork, vegetable and of course, the roasted turkey. “We have a close group of friends in the City and every Christmas and New Year we get together, as a family and make a lot of noise. There’s a barbecue and we just chill out and have a good time eating together,” explains Darshan.