Great Lent for believers is a time of spiritual and bodily purification. The most important week before Easter is amazing: every day is filled with a special meaning.
Strong dietary restrictions, even compared with the previous period of a strict 40-day fast.
What do believers eat in fasting before Easter? What dishes can be cooked by laymen?
What to eat in the post before Easter - general principles
The last seven days before Easter Sunday are the most stringent in terms of food. In Holy Week, believers remember the death of Christ and reflect on the meaning of his cleansing sacrifice. At the same time believers are preparing for the holiday. It was during this period that they cleaned the house or apartment, painted and painted eggs, baked various Easter cakes, made Easter.
What to eat in the post before Easter? Traditionally, the meal plan for Holy Week is very hard. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - raw food. This means that you can eat only raw foods of plant origin. Fruits and vegetables are allowed - fresh, peeled, pickled, pickled, as well as mushrooms, bread, honey, nuts and cold drinks. It is believed that on Monday you can only eat in the evening, after the daily work. On Tuesday and Wednesday, you can eat during the day, in small portions.
On Holy Thursday the church allows you to eat hot food and put vegetable oil in it. You can eat salads, cereals, first courses, bake or fry something flour.
On Good Friday believers mourn for the crucified Christ and completely refuse to eat. Only after the evening service, children, the sick, and old people can take a little food to maintain their strength.
On Holy Saturday consecrated dyed eggs, baked cakes, cooked Easter. In the evening, believers can eat some bread, dried fruit, honey, vegetables, raw.
Thus, hot food in Holy Week is allowed only on Thursday. In addition to honey, you can eat only herbal products. Oil, even vegetable, is strictly limited. You can refuse it only on Holy Saturday, and add it to dishes throughout the week. It is important to understand that the canons of fasting were primarily created for monasteries. Monks spend this period in meditation and prayer, so hungry syncope is rare. But tight restrictions in worldly life are hardly justified, because the laity have to work and raise children, and do housework.
Explaining the meaning of fasting to unchurched people, the priests constantly emphasize that eating fasting before Easter is possible and necessary. It is impossible to strictly restrict the diet of children, adolescents, pregnant women, old people. Another question is that, following the very spirit, the meaning of Lent, you need to prepare food for home from permitted products, without making a cult out of food.
What is not allowed in the post before Easter
Observing the post, you need to forget about the products of animal origin. This is primarily meat and fish, offal and seafood, butter and eggs, cheese and dairy products. An exception is made only for honey: this sweetness is allowed by church canons.
It is important to understand that it is impossible to have in the fast before Easter not only the named products, but also the dishes in which they are included as separate components. For example, when buying bread at a store, be sure to read the label. If the ingredients indicate an egg, milk powder, butter, this bread is no longer lean.
The ban includes sweets containing animal butter and milk, mayonnaise on chicken eggs, chocolate, and even marmalade on gelatin. The fact is that gelatin is produced from the bone tissue of animals, which means that it belongs to the food of animal origin. This means that you can not eat in the post before Easter purchased jelly and other desserts on gelatin. But if you, for example, cook jelly on vegetable agar-agar, then you can easily keep in “lean” conditions.
Barley Mushroom Pillow
This is a tasty Thursday meal that you can feed your whole family. Properly cooked pearl barley has nothing to do with the Soviet porridge from the district catering. And it’s unreasonable not to use the healing properties of pearl barley. Be sure to try this lean dish. It turns out very tasty! Ingredients:
• two glasses of pure pearl barley;
• two large carrots;
• two large onions;
• a pound of fresh champignons;
• three tablespoons of vegetable oil;
• salt.
Preparation:
Pearl barley rinse thoroughly to get rid of starch and make pilaf crumbly.
Fold the barley into a cast-iron or thick-walled pan.
Boil the water and steam the grits with boiling water so that the water over the barley is on two fingers (2-2.5 cm). Leave the pot until the water cools completely, and longer.
Cut carrots into thin straws or just grate large.
Grind diced onions.
Prepare carrot and onion fried in butter.
Finely chopped mushrooms, also fry in oil in a separate pan.
Strain the croup with a skimmer, drain the remaining water. Steamed pearl barley should be almost ready. If it seems to you that the cereal is completely raw, fill it with a new portion of boiling water and boil for about twenty minutes.
In a saucepan put the fried and mushrooms, mix.
Pour half a cup of boiling water.
Lay out the barley, stir everything thoroughly.
To simmer under a lid on low heat until ready. It usually takes no more than 40 minutes.
“Monastic” Lenten Pie
Baking in the post is allowed, so try to cook this version of homemade lean pie. If we consider that only vegetable products are eaten in the post before Easter, the recipe does not violate any requirements. You can make a pie in literally half an hour. To give it a flavor, you can use bags of flavored tea. Fragrant cinnamon can be replaced by vanilla, ginger, cardamom.
Ingredients:
• a glass of strong black tea;
• two glasses of white flour;
• three tablespoons of thick jam, preferably sour;
• two tablespoons of vegetable oil;
• baking powder bag (10 grams);
• a glass of sugar;
• a teaspoon of cinnamon powder;
• half a cup of icing sugar for decoration.
Preparation:
Brew a glass of strong tea. Pour the jam with hot tea and wait for it to disperse and the liquid has cooled.
Pour baking powder into flour, mix and sift.
Add to the flour mixture a glass of sugar and cinnamon, mix.
In the center of the flour slides make a hole, pour in tea with jam and vegetable oil.
Knead a simple soft dough.
Cover the form with baking paper, pour out the dough and send it to the oven, preheated to 190 ° C.
The cake takes about twenty minutes.
Leave the cake to cool in shape.
When it becomes warm, remove the paper, shift the cake to the board.
Decorate with powdered ground sugar.
Cut such a pie is necessary after complete cooling.
Vinaigrette with beans and pickled mushrooms
From vegetable dishes the easiest way to prepare a light vinaigrette. Easy, tasty and very healthy dish - the perfect lean dinner option.
Ingredients:
• three potatoes;
• large beets;
• half a cup of beans;
• three salted eggs;
• two pickled cucumbers;
• a glass of sauerkraut;
• small onion;
• Three tablespoons of fragrant vegetable oil.
Preparation:
Soak dry beans for three or four hours, then boil in a new portion of water until cooked.
Boiled and cooled potatoes finely chopped.
Cook beets in a double boiler or bake in foil. Cool, cut into cubes and pour vegetable oil in a separate bowl. The oil “seals” the beetroot juice and will not allow the beets to stain the vinaigrette.
Finely chop the milk mushrooms, onions and cucumbers.
Combine all the ingredients of vinaigrette, salt to taste, mix and serve.
fast borsch with mushrooms
Delicious first course, lean borscht will be a great alternative to the meat dish. Mushrooms in nutritional value are almost as good as meat. Borsch is nutritious and very tasty.
Ingredients:
• two hundred grams of fresh mushrooms or thirty grams of dried;
• two small beets;
• four potatoes;
• large onion;
• a tablespoon of tomato paste;
• a teaspoon of flour;
• tablespoon of vegetable oil;
• a teaspoon of vinegar; • salt;
• a bunch of fresh greens;
• three cloves of garlic;
• Ten black peppercorns.
Preparation:
Dice the onion and mushrooms in neat cubes.
In vegetable oil, fry onion and mushrooms by adding tomato paste.
Cook beets, peel and cut into strips.
To boil water.
Cut potatoes into cubes.
Put the potatoes in boiling water and boil until half cooked for 4-5 minutes.
Throw mushroom zazharku and beets.
Dissolve flour in a few spoons of water, pour in borscht.
Salt, boil for five minutes at a slow boil.
Cut the greens.
Pour a teaspoon of vinegar into borsch, throw crushed pepper, chopped greens, garlic.
Hold under the lid for about ten minutes and serve.
Rice patties with mushroom sauce
You can replace meat patties with a lenten dish made from mushrooms, vegetables, or cereals. Rice option with mushroom gravy is tasty and original.
Ingredients:
• a glass of rice;
• three hundred grams of mushrooms;
• one hundred grams of raisins;
• one hundred grams of walnuts;
• some vegetable oil;
• medium bulb;
• one hundred grams of flour;
• one hundred grams of bread crumbs;
• lemon.
Preparation:
Cut mushrooms, add water, salt and cook until ready (about twenty minutes).
Boil viscous porridge from rice on water by adding two glasses of water.
Add a little oil to the boiled rice for better viscosity and mix.
Put the breadcrumbs on the cutting board.
From the mass roll round patties, rolling them in breading.
Heat the oil in a skillet, fry the patties on both sides until golden brown.
Finely chop the onion and fry with flour.
Pour mushroom decoction with mushrooms.
Add chopped nuts and raisins to the sauce, add lemon juice (2-3 spoons).
Stir vigorously and turn off the sauce.
Place cutlets on a serving plate and serve with sauce.
Lean “Coffee” butter-free cake
Another version of the cake for those who do not want to violate the most stringent requirements of Holy Week and do not know what to eat in the post before Easter with tea or coffee. Even vegetable oil is not used in the recipe, the cake still turns out very tasty. Ingredients:
• a glass of strong black coffee (250 ml);
• one and a half glasses of flour (about 300 grams);
• bag of baking powder or a teaspoon of soda;
• two tablespoons of honey;
• a glass of sugar;
• half a cup of walnuts;
• half a cup of raisins;
• some salt.
Preparation:
Brew coffee beans (suitable and soluble powder), be sure to strain the coffee grain.
In a bowl, mix hot coffee, sugar, honey, salt, mix everything.
Mix chopped nuts and raisins, add a tablespoon of flour and mix. The flour layer will not give the nuts and dried fruit in the baking process to soak.
Pour baking powder or soda, sifted flour, nuts and dried fruits into coffee. To mix everything.
If the flour is not enough, add more. The dough should not be thick.
Grease the baking dish with a drop of vegetable oil or a piece of margarine, sprinkle with flour.
Pour the dough into the mold and bake in the preheated oven to 180-190 ° C.
Fasting is primarily abstention from pleasure. That is why Holy Week food should not be tasty. The main thing is that it is diverse and nutritious.
Do not look at what the believers eat in the post before Easter! It's amazing how many really delicious dishes you can take in your piggy bank favorite recipes.
