Christmas 2017: Four Christian Families Invite You For A Meal

A malayalee christian meal with teh plus family
What's served: Non-veg stew and appam, surmai fry, vegetable pulao, marble cake
At the Pius home in Mulund West, dessert has been at the heart of every celebration. Liz Pius, a homemaker, part-time travel expert and professional baker, doesn't remember a day when special feasts at home did not end with an ice cream or chocolate. In Odisha, where she grew up, her mother, she says, was famous for her cakes. So, it comes as a surprise when she tells us that the Malayalee Christmas meal doesn't feature a sweet dish. To compensate, Liz - originally from Ernakulum in Kerala - has incorporated the marble cake and custard pudding into her spread, which, she says, is now part of family tradition. "Can I have the cake first?" her older son Jordan, 13, asks, as he sits down for lunch with brother Gavin, 7. She hands him a plate with rice and chicken, and politely rebuffs his craving, "After you're done eating."

Feasting, we learn, is an important part of how Malayalees celebrate Christmas. "We start with a heavy meal of appam and non-veg stew for breakfast," she says. In fact, appam, which is made from ground rice and coconut milk, is served at all special occasions. "Appam, when traditionally prepared, can be an elaborate and time-consuming process. The batter has to settle overnight. Hence, it's only reserved at festivities," says Liz, adding that a perfectly cooked appam is usually lacy on the edges. If the batter remains, Liz also prepares vattayappam, by adding more grated coconut to the dish and steaming it in a large container.

The stew, which is a thick gravy of stir-fried veggies, mixed in light spices and coconut milk, can be made using either chicken or mutton. For this particular spread, however, Liz opted for a vegetable stew to balance the non-vegetarian dishes on the menu. Liz's Christmas meals are inspired from the years she spent in Angul, Odisha, where her father worked. This explains why the staple boiled red rice is missing. Instead, Liz has prepared a vegetable pulao for us. "We were the only Christians in our colony in Odisha, and I remember how we relished the pulaos and biryanis prepared by aunties in the neighbourhood. That's when mum started making pulao. It's all about incorporating something different and new to make the menu more interesting."

The other dishes that make it to the final menu are chicken and mutton roast. Beef cutlets are popular in Kerala, but here, thanks to the ban, Liz settles for chicken. As fish - meen in Malayalam - is also a staple, especially along the Malabar coast, where Liz's father hails from, she also has a fish preparation during Christmas. Today, it's Mumbai's favourite surmai fry. "Back in our hometown, my mum also makes thoran or vegetables sautéed with grated coconut, and mezhukkuperatti, vegetables stir-fried only with spices," Liz recalls, saying that owing to her busy schedule, she couldn't bring more to the feasting table. Nonetheless, her children appear content. And right after Jordan has had his last morsel of rice, he flashes her a smile. "Pass the cake, please."

Goan festive spread at the afonso residence
What's served: Pork sorpotel, peas pulav, chicken cafreal roast, mutton xacuti, caramel pudding
When we step into Merlyn Afonso's cosy ground floor home in Vashi, for a while it seems like we are in Goa, especially the backyard that opens to the backwaters of Vashi. Afonso has called us over for lunch to try out her Christmas festive spread, something that she has been serving unchanged for decades. Seated at a six-seater table decorated with bunting and baubles, is the entire lunch spread - Goan stew, whole chicken cafreal roast, mutton xacuti, pork sorpotel and green peas pulav. Sweet treats include caramel cake, cookies and marshmallows.

It has taken Afonso two days to prepare the elaborate meal, and she tells us that she is particular about picking her ingredients, right from the meats and vegetables to the masalas. It's main course all the way, so we dig right in. We serve ourselves a helping of the light green peas pulav that's just the thing to go with the hero of the spread, the pork sorpotel. Goan food carries a rich Portuguese heritage, and the sorpotel is an iconic Christmas dish. "Sorpotel, literally means from head or 'sor' to the 'tel' or tail. Traditionally, it is supposed to be made with every part of the pig, although in Mumbai, we have to stick to the liver, heart, belly, kidney and other boneless portions."

This is one dish that could well be cooked a week in advance. "When we were young, we'd stand in the kitchen as the dish was made, and that's how I got a hang of it. But, I must credit my mother-in-law for teaching me how to prepare it," she says. The longer the meat soaks in the thick gravy the better it tastes, we are told. "The meat is first boiled, then cooled and cut into small pieces and then fried. The masalas comprise Kashmiri chillis, a pod of garlic, peppercorns and tamarind. "It takes three hours to cook. Because, it is an elaborate dish, it is reserved for occasions like Christmas." Even as we are half way through lunch, the sorpotel continues to be a draw for repeats.

The Goan stew also draws from the Portuguese style of cooking, and here, every ingredient needs is cooked separately, like the buff, the pork, carrots, potatoes and macaroni. "Later, they are mixed and boiled in a blend of all the stocks, which is how you derive the rich flavour," says Afonso, who picked up the tricks for this dish from her mother. The light caramel pudding after the rich xacuti is Afonso's version of a Christmas pudding, different from the traditional plum pudding. She prefers steaming it instead of baking. "I'm old-school, you know," she smiles. Light and not too sweet, it is the perfect sign off.

An Anglo-Indian brunch with the singhs of vikhroli
What's served: Roast buff, chicken salad, mashed potato with butter, boiled vegetables, potato wedges, bread pudding
This year, Christmas will be an even more special occasion for the Singhs of Vikhroli. Thirty-three-year-old Danielle plans to make the entire feast on her own, without letting her mother, Jennifer Singh, 72, enter the kitchen. "Every year, mummy cooks and I help her. But, this year, I am going to do it. I have told her 'you stand here, and I will be in the kitchen'," says Danielle.

When we visit their home though, it's Jennifer at the helm. The menu is a traditional one that she says her mother acquainted her with. While Jennifer was born and raised in Mumbai and later married a north Indian, her maternal family traces its roots to the British. "My mother hailed from Jabalpur," says Jennifer, adding that it's not just the menu but even the style of cooking that has remained unchanged over generations. Our chat is constantly interrupted by Blackie, a black pariah, who is among the nine that the mother-daughter duo have given a roof to. Blackie makes it obvious that she would like to be in on the conversation. After all, no festivity at this home is complete without the canines. "Whatever we make, much of it is fed to them," Danielle smiles.

On the menu on Christmas day will be roast buff meat, chicken salad, mashed potato with butter, boiled vegetables (carrots, French beans, cauliflower and corn) and potato wedges. But, what really stands out is the dessert menu: bread pudding or homemade custard. Everything in their Kannamwar Nagar home, is made from scratch. Even the jujubes that they offer us as pre-lunch snack. "None of the traditional recipes have been written down," says Jennifer, a retired stunt artiste-turned-social worker. The best part of the family recipe she says, is that unlike the hours that others spend labouring over their roast, the dish in this house is cooked in 45 minutes.

The trick seems to be the switch that they have made from the oven to the cooker. Danielle, much like a student prepping for an exam, tries to remember the process. Fork the entire 1/2 kg of buff meat, add two tablespoons of vinegar. Next come a series of masalas - garam masala powder and akha garam masala, ginger garlic paste - that are well spread on the meat. Oil is usually groundnut oil or soyabean. "Once this is done, we put the meat in the cooker with two glasses of water and keep it there for half an hour. The lid isn't locked up, just lightly placed in the cooker," she adds. And within 45 minutes, the meal is ready.