Next week Mus­lims will cel­e­brate the re­li­gious fes­ti­val of Eid-ul- Fitr. The day is ob­served by first at­tend­ing mosque for prayers, then fam­i­lies get to­geth­er and share a de­li­cious feast. Tra­di­tion­al­ly, saw­ine is the sweet which is served, and this is en­joyed in some house­holds as ear­ly as break­fast. Lunch is typ­i­cal­ly a won­der­ful as­sort­ment of east­ern dish­es, and desserts com­prise ir­re­sistible In­di­an sweets. Food with its uni­ver­sal ap­peal knows no bound­aries, so to­day we can all share in the beau­ty of this re­li­gious fes­ti­val through the prepa­ra­tion and en­joy­ment of some of these ap­petis­ing dish­es. Eid Mubarak!

GU­LAB JA­MON IN SYRUP

1 cup flour

1/4 cup ground al­monds

1 tsp bak­ing pow­der

1/8 tsp bak­ing so­da

1/2 tsp ground car­damom

2 tbs but­ter

1/4 cup plain yo­gurt

1/2 cup full cream milk

pow­der

2-3 tbs wa­ter

Veg­etable oil to deep fry

• Place all dry in­gre­di­ents in­to a bowl, rub in but­ter to fine crumb stage. • Stir in yo­gurt.

• Add wa­ter and knead to a soft dough. Form in­to 20 small balls. • Heat oil and fry gu­lab ja­mon un­til gold­en; do not over­heat oil. • Re­move and drain.

Make syrup: •Com­bine 2 cups sug­ar with 1 cup wa­ter, add 6 bruised car­damom pods

• Boil un­til sug­ar is dis­solved, 5 mins.

• Add 1 tsp rose wa­ter, pour on­to gu­lab ja­mon and let sit un­til ready to serve. • Serves ten

BUT­TER LAMB

2 lbs bone­less lamb, cut in­to

one-inch cubes

Mari­nade:

2/3 cup plain yo­gurt

4 cloves gar­lic, minced

2-inch piece of gin­ger grat­ed

2 tbs fresh lime juice

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp chili pow­der

1 tsp co­rian­der

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp turmer­ic

1 tsp salt

Com­bine all the in­gre­di­ents for the mari­nade, rub on­to lamb and re­frig­er­ate overnight.

For the cur­ry

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp co­rian­der seeds

1/4 tsp fenu­greek

3-inch stick of cin­na­mon

6 pieces cloves

Heat a fry­ing pan add dried spices and cook dry un­til fra­grant, re­move and grind in a spice mill, set aside.

2 ozs but­ter

1-inch piece of gin­ger grat­ed

2 cloves gar­lic, minced

1/2 cup pureed toma­toes (1/3 cup toma­to paste)

1/2 cup cream

3 ozs ground al­monds

• Salt and pep­per now heat the 1/2 of the but­ter in a heavy saut&ea­cute; pan, add lamb pieces in batch­es to brown, do not over­crowd pot, re­move to a bowl when all pieces are brown. • Add the rest of the but­ter, saut&ea­cute; the gin­ger, and gar­lic, cook un­til fra­grant, now add the ground spice mix­ture, fry for a few min­utes, add lamb back to pot and stir and cook for a few min­utes. • Add toma­to puree and cook stir­ring well for a few min­utes more. • Cov­er and cook stir­ring oc­ca­sion­al­ly un­til ten­der, about one hour. • Stir in cream and al­monds, cook for a few min­utes more.

• Serve warm with roti or steamed bas­mati rice, ac­com­pa­nied by veg­eta­bles or sal­ad.

SAW­INE

2 tbs un­salt­ed but­ter

4 ozs ver­mi­cel­li saw­ine

2 cups wa­ter

1 cin­na­mon stick

1 1/2cups evap­o­rat­ed milk

1/2 cup con­densed milk

1 cup reg­u­lar milk

1/2 cup sug­ar

1 tsp cin­na­mon

1/2 tsp crushed car­damom pods

raisins and toast­ed al­monds to gar­nish

• Melt but­ter in a large fry­ing pan, break the ver­mi­cel­li and add to pan; turn fre­quent­ly un­til the ver­mi­cel­li is quite brown, re­move.

• Bring wa­ter to a boil add sug­ar and cin­na­mon stick, add ver­mi­cel­li and cook un­til ten­der about five to sev­en min­utes.

• Mean­while in a heavy saucepan place all the milk, add the spices and bring to a boil.

• Com­bine saw­ine with milk and serve gar­nished with al­monds and raisins.

• Serves six to eight