Today, the idea of the church has changed somewhat, the temple is regularly visited by children, young people and the older generation. Especially faithful Christians observe all fasts, especially fasting before Christmas and Holy Easter. Fasting involves abstinence from food of animal origin - this is milk, meat, eggs and all derivatives from them. Before Christmas, it is customary to set the table twice: January 6 - on Christmas Eve, the table must be fasting, and January 7 - already at Christmas itself, here you can already cook dishes from eggs, milk and meat. Many adhere to traditions and prepare 12 lean dishes for Christmas. The number 12 symbolizes the number of apostles, there were just 12 of them. Someone believes that 12 fasting dishes for Christmas symbolize the number of days of Christmas time - there are also 12 of them.
What should be the dishes and how to diversify the fasting table? This question interests many hostesses, including me. Over the course of several years, I have "worked out" a lean menu, and today I will share with you the recipes that I and my family have tested.
If you think that there are very few lean dishes, then you are mistaken, there are a great many of them. Here are the most interesting 12 fasting dishes for Christmas.
1. Lean hodgepodge with mushrooms is perfect for hot dishes . We need mushrooms for it (in winter, of course, the choice is small, so I used fresh mushrooms, you can also take dry ones), a small head of cabbage, one carrot, two onions, two or three pickles, a small potato, salt, herbs, oil and pepper. So, put the water on the fire, while the water boils, fry the mushrooms and onions. Grind cabbage, carrots, potatoes and pickles. In a boiling water, we dip the raw vegetables in turn, let it boil, then mushrooms, let it boil and add garlic, herbs and vegetable oil before removing the hodgepodge from the heat. The first dish is ready.
2. For appetizer, prepare vinaigrette. For it, we need boiled beets, carrots, potatoes, pickled cucumbers, a can of canned peas, herbs and salt. I cut the vegetables into small cubes, chop the greens finely, then combine all the ingredients, salt, season with oil and the vinaigrette is ready. In strict fasting, you need to eat lean dishes without oil, so if you do not season the vinaigrette with oil, it can be served on strict days.
3. The third dish on my table was dried fruit compote. First, I bring the water to a boil, then add sugar, bring it to a boil again and throw dried fruits: raisins, dried apples, prunes and dried apricots.
4. The place of the second hot dish on my fasting table is vegetable stew. To prepare it, you can take any vegetables, I usually use potatoes, fresh tomatoes (if you can’t buy it, then tomato paste), zucchini, cabbage, carrots, bell peppers, onions, garlic, salt and vegetable oil to taste. I do not adhere to special rules in cooking, so I shred all vegetables, salt and carcass with the addition of a small amount of water. In an hour, the stew is ready.
5. Delicious lean cabbage rolls with mushrooms and potatoes are very tasty. For cooking, I take three large potatoes, 20 grams of mushrooms, a couple of large onions. Fry mushrooms and onions, grate potatoes on a coarse grater and combine with mushrooms. To the salt. Then I wrap the filling in scalded cabbage leaves and the carcass over low heat until cooked. Serve with tomato sauce or pasta.
6. For a change, you can cook aspic from vegetables. I take any vegetables and pour them with a salt solution of gelatin. In an hour, the delicious jellied is ready.
7. On my fasting table I always put dumplings with potatoes. To do this, prepare the dough like dumplings, only without eggs. As a filling, I use mashed potatoes with fried onions. Then we make dumplings, boil and serve with vegetable oil.
8. For dessert, I cook fruit jelly according to the principle of vegetable aspic. I cut the fruits, put them into glasses and pour this time with a sweet solution of gelatin.
9. To get 12 meatless dishes for Christmas, I put various pickles on the table, these are “Bulgarian” cucumbers, “Czech” slices of tomatoes, in general, everything that can be found in the cellar.
10. Be sure to serve sauerkraut for mashed potatoes, which I cook in advance.
11. The second dessert on the fasting table will be baked apples with honey, nuts and dried fruits.
12. And, at the end, the twelfth dish will be pickled mushrooms seasoned with garlic and green onions.
Thus, it is obvious that the dishes of lean cuisine are very diverse both in taste and in appearance.