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From Nani and Ma, with love
Updated On: 07 April, 2024 07:56 AM IST | Mumbai | Phorum Pandya
Maternal love passed down through food becomes more special during festivals. Here are two recipes from Fatema Agarkar’s Bohri lineage
Fatema Agarkar preps in her kitchen to make baked sweet corn palak chicken, her go-to comfort meal. It’s her mother’s recipe that unmissingly evokes nostalgia during the festive season. Pic/Shadab Khan
Growing up in a Bohra household, educationist Fatema Agarkar has the fondest memories of Ramzan. Especially on the 23rd night of Qadr (according to the Islamic calendar), when the entire family stayed up, marking a night of special prayer and remembrance of Allah. “My mom would be doling out instructions for last-minute preparations, which was quite an elaborate affair,” says Agarkar, who grew up in Cuffe Parade and spent her holidays at her nani’s house in Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh and her father’s family home in Surat. “New clothes would be bought for everyone to wear during Ramzan. Among siblings and cousins, we’d have a competition to see who would receive the most covers (money in envelopes handed by elders called eidi),” she recalls.
Days were spent fasting, praying and celebrating iftaris at home with extended friends and family. “Mom experimented with food, and there would be so much sharing of sweet and savoury dishes. That was a time when our elders shared stories of a simpler time,” says Agarkar, adding that the culmination at the end of the month with Eid celebrations is carrying forward the tradition of love, forgiveness and thanksgiving for all that is and praying for the well-being of those around us.
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