“Eid Al-Adha or Bakra Eid is not the same anymore. Family members don’t get together the way they used to. We don’t even do the kurbani (sacrifice) at my Noida home; it is done back in Rampur, my hometown,” said food historian and chef Osama Jalali.
Animal sacrifice lies at the heart of Eid Al-Adha celebrations across the country and the world. This is to commemorate Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, as an act of obedience to God. God intervened and provided a ram to be sacrificed in its place, symbolising that faith and devotion are more important than the sacrifice itself.
For him, the festival evokes memories of family, tradition, and togetherness. This year, Eid Al-Adha falls on May 28.
Reminiscing about some of his fondest memories linked to the festival, Jalali spoke about a time when he was in Grade 7 and visited a bakra market for the very first time, only two nights before Eid. “The experience of being there with my entire family is etched in my memory. We brought home a tempo full of twelve goats,” the chef added, illustrating how significant these shared family moments were to him.
Jalali grew attached to the goats, so much so that he couldn’t eat the meat after the sacrifice.
Despite this, food remained at the heart of the celebration. In the Jalali household, lunch usually featured kaleji (goat liver), considered the freshest and most special part after the sacrifice. Large deghs of fragrant biryani were also prepared and were enjoyed by the entire family who gathered together for lunch.
The celebration continued into the evenings, which were reserved for grilled delicacies cooked over sigdis. These included various kinds of kebabs, such as seekh and chapli kebabs. Jalali also spoke about other signature Rampuri dishes such as tar gosht (a traditional Rampuri slow-cooked mutton curry) and nihari, which completed the feast. Mutton Nihari, for which Jalali has also provided a recipe, remains one of his most favourite dishes. “The mutton around this time of the year is great, and without this nihari recipe by my grandmother, Eid Al-Adha is incomplete,” he added.
Now, after his father’s passing, Jalali marks Eid in Delhi and Noida with quieter gatherings. Though celebrations are smaller, the memories of Rampur’s grand Eids remain dear to him.
