Eid ul Azha or famously known as Bakra Eid is one of the most awaited occasion of the year. Children excitedly look forward to Bakra eid as its time to bring home goats and cows and camels and sheep or lamb.
They enjoy taking care of their animals, feeding them and walking their animals and showing it off to their friends.
And a very immoral trend that has become a part of the Bakra Eid celebrations is the proudly quoting the prices of the Qurbaani ka janwar, which can range up to Rs 18 lakh or even more.
But no matter how expensive the animal is and no matter how lavish your set up was for your animal it all ends up in a heap of fresh meat, trotters, and chops!
And with so much fresh meat in the house one expects mouth watering, scrumptious, and heavenly meals.
Kaleji
So to start of the morning in Bakra Eid the first item to be cooked is Liver/ Kaleji.
Owing to its vulnerability and low preserving value. People want to cook kaleji asap and distribute the rest.
There are many variations in different houses on cooking liver.
People cook it in a gravy, or in dried bhoona form and some even grill it.
The one that’s cooked in my house is mostly is Liver Curry
Ingredients
- 1/2 kg liver cut in small pieces
- Onions 2 thinly sliced
- Tomatoes 2 chopped
- Ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp
- Green chili 3-4
- Yogurt half cup beaten
- Red chili powder 1 tsp
- Coriander powder 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder 1 tsp
- Salt to taste
- Lemon juice 1 tsp
- Chaat masala for sprinkiling
- Fresh coriander and Julienne ginger for garnish
- Cooking oil 8 tbsp
Method
- Heat oil in a non stick wok, add onions fry till golden brown, add liver fry for few minutes
- Add tomatoes, yogurt, and all the dry spices mix it well. Let it cook on low flame till liver tenders.
- Once the liver is tender and there is considerable gravy add green chilies and cook for further 15 minutes
- Once the dish is ready garnish with ginger and coriander.
- Serve with puris or naan
Or you can always use packaged masalas of National, Shaan or Mehran and this always saves time and the dish turns out to be perfect.
Bhoona Gosht
There is no house in Pakistan which doesn’t cook this dish. Different communities have different versions of Bhoona Gosht but the basic recipe is the same that the meat is cooked without adding water.
Ingredients
- Beef or mutton ½ kg
- Yogurt 1 cup
- Oil 1 cup
- Onions 2 sliced
- Lemons juice 2
- Green chilies 4 sliced
- Turmeric powder 1 tsp
- Black pepper 1 tsp
- Ginger garlic paste 1 tbsp
- Red chili flakes 1 tbsp
- Cumin ½ tbsp (roasted and ground)
- Salt to taste
Method
- Heat oil in a wok and fry sliced onions till they turn golden brown.
- Then add meat, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric and ginger garlic paste and cook
- When water dries up add yogurt, red chilie flakes and stir fry
- Then add black pepper, cumin , lemon juice and mix well
- Bhoona gosht is ready
- Serve with naaan or paratha
Mutton Pulao
Although biryanis are more popular throughout Pakistan, but Pulaos are more enjoyed during Bakra Eid owing to its lighter flavor and less use of spices. And pulaos can easily go along with gravy’s and kebabs whereas biryanis is a complete dish on its own
Ingredients
For Stock
- Mutton 1 kg
- Garlic 8 cloves peeled
- Ginger 1 inch piece peeled and sliced
- Aniseeds 1/2 tsp
- Black cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
- White cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
- Coriander seeds 1 tsp
- Salt to taste
For Rice
- Long grain basmati rice 1 kg
- Onions 2 medium sliced
- Plain yogurt 2 tbsp
- Green chilis 4
- Cardamom pods 4
- Cooking oil 1 cup
- Mutton stock 8 cups
Method
- Pour 10 cups of water in a pan and add mutton, ginger, garlic, salt, and (tie all the dry spices in a muslin cloth) the muslin cloth. Let it boil
- Once it starts boiling lower the heat and cook until meat is tender.
- Sieve the mixture by separating the mutton. Squeeze the muslin cloth to extract all the juices.
- Now the stock is ready.
- Heat oil in a heavy based bottom pan. Fry onions till golden brown. Remove half onions from pan and place on paper towel. Add yogurt, cardamom pods, and green chilies in the other half of onions. Saute for a few minutes.
- Add mutton and fry for about 5 minutes. Add stock and cover. When it comes to a boil add rice and salt. Stir gently to mix all ingredients. Cover with a tight fitting lid.
- Lower heat and allow to cook for about 10 minutes or until rice is tender but yet firm.
Hunter Beef
This one is my very favorite and it can be used in so many different recipes. Make juicy burgers, sumptous sandwiches, cold salads or just eat for breakfast with scrambled eggs. Hunter beef has a long shelf life and the longer its kept the juicier it gets.
Many bakeries offer Hunter Beef preparing services but I wont recommend it because we simply cant trust their hygiene and besides home cooked food is the best.
Ingredients
- Undercut beef one whole piece approximately 1 kg
- Worcestershire sauce or lemon juice 4 tbsp
- Hot spices powder 1 tbsp
- Chili powder 1 tsp
- Ginger paste 1 tbsp
- Garlic paste 1 tbsp
- Salt 1 1/2 tsp
- Oil 2 tsp
Method
- Poke the meat well with a fork
- Rub all the spices all over the meat thoroughly
- Pour Worcestershire sauce and refrigerate overnight
- Next day take out the meat and leave it for 2-3 hours
- Heat oil in a big pan, place the meat and let it brown on all sides
- Add just enough water to tenderize the meat and cook on a very low flame till its done.
- Cut in slices before serving
Mutton Chops
My family is very fond of mutton and I have created this very juicy recipe of Mutton Chops.
Ingredients
- Mutton chops 12
For Marinade
- Soya Sauce 2 tbsp
- Chili Sauce 2 tbsp
- Vinegar 1 tbsp
- Salt 1 tsp
- Black pepper 1 tsp
- Olive oil 1 tbsp
For Cooking
- Cooking oil 4 tbsp
- Potatoes thick cut wedges
Method
- Marinate the mutton chops with all the ingredients of the marinade leave it for 3-4 hours
- In a non stick add 4 tbsp oil when its hot add the marinated mutton chops, first cook for 1 minute on high flame then reduce the heat and cover the wok.
- Let it cook till t becomes soft once also add thick slices of potatoes in the same wok let it cook till chops are tender and potatoes are also soft.
- Serve this dish with a Thousand Island salad dressing
Barbecue Items
And once the night falls, people gather on their roof tops or in their lawn or even in their balconies and start grilling the meat. Barbecue is a significant part of Bakra Eid and its usually a men or youngsters affair. Women usually help in the marination and the rest is handled by the men. Usually barbecue items go along with naans, or parathas and with homemade salad.
Some of the popular Barbecue items especially for Bakra Eid are Bihari Kebab, Seekh Kebab, and Mutton Tikka.
Bihari Kebab
Earlier this dish was popular among only among the Urdu Speaking migrants of Pakistan but now its quite popular owing to its great, juicy, soft meaty taste and also its quite convenient to make on a charcoal grill or even an oven grill.
Ingredients
- Boneless beef – 1/2 kg (cut in thin and long strips)
- Red chili powder – 3 tsp
- Raw onion paste – 2 tbsp
- Salt – 1 1/2 tsp
- Oil – 4 tbsp
- Raw papaya paste – 1 tbsp
- Yogurt – 3 tbsp
- Hot Spices powder – 2 tsp
- Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp
- Charcoal
Method:
- Mix beef pieces and apply red chili powder, onion paste, salt, oil, papaya paste, yogurt, Hot spices powder and ginger garlic paste.
- Leave overnight
- Then skew in skewer and bake in preheated oven on 180ºC, for half an hour.
- When it’s done, give smoke of charcoal.
- Serve Bihari Kebab with a salad of citrus onions