Eid al-Adha , the Feast of Sacrifice , is the most important festival for Muslims and is comparable to Christmas for Christians. Behind this three-day festival lie a few rituals and traditions that I would like to share with you.
For as long as I can remember, every family that could afford it has sacrificed at least one of their own lambs for Eid al-Adha . The animal is bought days or even weeks in advance and well-fed and cared for in the days leading up to the sacrifice. The day before the festival, it is washed and given fresh food again. The whole thing sounds rather gruesome, but these animals had generally lived very good lives beforehand, often coming from small-scale farmers and therefore having plenty of space to roam and fresh food.
On Eid al-Adha, after the Eid prayer, the animal is slaughtered by a qualified person. During the slaughter, the head of the family, or the person in whose name the slaughter was ordered, places a hand on the animal to calm it and ensure the entire procedure is as quick and stress-free as possible.
After the slaughter, the meat is cut into three parts. One third is intended for distribution to those in need, another third is given to relatives and friends as a gift. The final third remains with the family to prepare the festive meal.
Here in Germany, slaughtering an animal at home isn't so easy, so there are organizations that take on the task of slaughtering and distributing the meat to people in need. This allows them to still participate in the rituals of this important event for Muslims. I often gladly take advantage of this service. I then symbolically buy a third of the slaughtered meat from a halal butcher. Therefore, every year for Eid al-Adha, there's at least one lamb dish on our festive table. This year was no different. As usual, I kept the recipe very simple. The result was once again very successful, and everyone enjoyed it!
The whole thing as a video
And for download…
Light lamb recipe for the Feast of Sacrifice
Ingredients
- 4 Leg of lamb
- 4 tablespoons Hot & Spicy Green
- 1 tbsp lamb spice mix
- 1 tbsp mustard
- 2 Lemons
- 2 tablespoons of cooking oil
- Salt
Instructions
- Wash the lamb shanks thoroughly beforehand, cover them with water in a large bowl, add the juice of one lemon, and let them soak for about 15 minutes
- Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together Hot & Spicy Green Sauce, cooking oil, lamb seasoning mix, mustard, salt and the juice of half a lemon and set aside
- Remove the leg of lamb from the water, pat dry with a kitchen paper, then make small but deep incisions in the meat
- Take the prepared marinade and rub it thoroughly all over the drumsticks. Place them in a baking dish and let them marinate for about an hour
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the casserole dish with the drumsticks in the oven and bake at 180°C for approximately 3.5 hours.
- Then switch to the grill function and bake for another 30 minutes at 200°C. Serve with your choice of side dish and enjoy hot!
