All set for a lavish spread

No Easter is complete without the traditional elaborate meal. The main attractions are the non-vegetarian dishes. It’s also an excuse for families and friends to come together and celebrate.

Easter eggs, signifying new life, might be a western concept, but have caught the fancy of a lot of people in the City. Some spend the whole day visiting family and friends and the highlight is the Easter lunch, which comprises all the traditional dishes including duck roast, pork vindaloo, mutton and chicken, homemade wine and cake baked with nuts, fruits and plenty of homemade sweets.

 Metrolife spoke to a few families in the City and asked them how they are celebrating Easter this year. Most say that the food is the highlight of the festival.

The mode of celebration differs from one community to another. After a church service, families waste no time switching to celebratory mood. After a 40-day Lent, non-vegetarian dishes are cooked in every household.

The Gomes family begins celebrations by distributing chocolates and marzipan Easter eggs among children. Bart Gomes, a Goan, points out that Easter brings the whole family together. “It brings the extended family together.

Among the dishes, sorpotel is a mandatory dish, along with sannas. Stuffed and fried mackarel is an indispensable part. There’s also beef xacuti, minced mutton chops, mussels curry and a miniature salad,” says Bart. 

Bart adds that a few of the western delicacies such as roast and stuffed chicken and grilled leg of ham, truly add to the variety of an Easter lunch. 

This is Shiya and Anoop’s first Easter after their marriage. Shiya spends every Easter with her extended family and this year will be no different. “This Easter is very special for us because it is the first after our marriage. It will bring together the entire family and it will also bring back a lot of good memories,” explains Shiya.

She adds that her mother never gets out of the kitchen on Easter. “There are all the conceivable non-vegetarian dishes such as duck roast, appam and chicken stew, fish curry and fry; and prawn delicacies. There will be nothing less than ten dishes on the table,” she adds.

Easter lunch is always very special after a 40-day Lent for Indrani Rajkumar, a Tamilian, who says, “I have two grown-up boys and they love food. We make homemade sweets such as kalkals and payasam in addition to chicken, mutton and a variety of sea food items.” Indrani invites her non-Christians friends over for lunch to share the joy of an Easter lunch.