What dishes to cook during Lent?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Lent is one of the main events of the Orthodox year. Believers are preparing for the celebration of Easter, cleansing the soul, mind and body. What you can eat during this period and what dishes you can cook during fasting, you will learn from the article.

How to eat right in fasting?

In order not to break the fast and prepare a dish that is allowed on a particular day of abstinence, you need to know which foods are allowed and which are prohibited. Lent is considered the strictest among the rest. The first and last weeks are especially difficult to follow.

On the very first day, you should completely refrain from eating. Cold, oil-free meals during Lent are allowed from Tuesday to Friday. Such days are called dry eating.

On Saturday and Sunday, fasting is the least strict. So, in the first week of fasting these days it is allowed to eat hot dishes seasoned with vegetable oil.

In the remaining 5 weeks of Lent, you should eat this way: dry eating should be observed on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and hot food can be eaten on Tuesday and Thursday, on weekendsit is allowed to fill food with vegetable oil, it is permissible to sip a little red wine. You can also cook holiday meals in fasting, but they also should not contain prohibited foods.

On Lazarus Saturday you can put fish caviar on the table. And the next day, on Palm Sunday, and on the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, the use of fish dishes is allowed. But here it should be noted that if the above holidays fall on the calendar for Holy Week, then during this period it is forbidden to eat any food of animal origin. On Good Friday, it is recommended to abstain from food, and on the day before Easter, dry eating is allowed. Dishes prepared for fasting should not only not contain prohibited foods, but also be charged with positive energy and pure thoughts of the cook.

Dishes for fasting: cooking at home

During fasting, they cook only from plant products. Animal food is prohibited: meat, dairy products, butter, eggs and all derivatives. You can not eat fast food, snacks, carbonated drinks and the like. Food should be of natural plant origin. Dishes should not be too spicy, spicy or sweet. Such food is also an excess on the table.

From the point of view of nutrition, it can be noted that lean meals during fasting not only do not harm he alth. On the contrary, they cleanse the body of deposits and toxins, strengthen with vitamins and minerals. Proper observance of fasting does not harm he alth due to the fact thatthe lack of animal food and all the necessary substances is replenished with plant components. Thus, the lack of animal protein is replaced by vegetable protein through the use of beans, peas, wheat, nuts and mushrooms. Apples, bananas and buckwheat will cover iron deficiency. Dried fruits with honey will support immunity. Often the main dishes during fasting are prepared on the basis of various cereals. The latter carry useful carbohydrates that will saturate the body. All kinds of vegetables and fruits will give energy and make up for the lack of nutrients, trace elements and vitamins.

You can cook a wide variety of simple but delicious dishes from permitted foods: soups, salads, snacks, basic hot and cold dishes, and even pies. We offer you simple, but extraordinary recipes for dishes during Lent.

Italian bean soup

Hearty, rich and unusual in taste soup will decorate the Lenten table. For its preparation you will need:

• canned beans - 200 g;
• green beans (can be frozen) - 300 g;
• 1 onion;
• garlic clove;
• half a liter of tomato juice;
• egg-free noodles (you can make your own from flour and water) - 250g;
• greens (dill, parsley, young green onion) to taste.

Cooking method

1. Cook the green beans until tender. Drain it in a colander.
2. Chop onion and garlic finely. Simmer in water in a deep soup pot. On days when vegetable oil is allowed, you can make frying.
3. Pour in the onion and garlictomato juice. Steam for 15 minutes with the lid closed.
4. In a separate pot, boil the noodles in s alted water.
5. In the languishing tomato juice with onion and garlic, add the remaining ingredients: green beans and canned beans, noodles. S alt to taste and simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Sprinkle soup with fresh herbs before serving.

Vegetable salad with avocado

What dishes to cook in fasting days of dry eating? Try making an unusual avocado salad. This fruit is high in calories. Therefore, the proposed salad will not only enrich with vitamins, but also saturate the body of a fasting person. To prepare it, you will need the following products:

• tomatoes - 2 pcs.;
• avocado - 1 piece;
• medium onion;
• cucumber - 2 pcs;
• radish - 200 g;
• lemon juice;
• s alt.

Preparing a salad is very simple. To do this, cut all the vegetables and avocado into cubes. Finely chop the onion and soak for 5-10 minutes in lemon juice. Then mix all the ingredients, s alt. You can also season with lemon juice or, on permitted days, with olive oil.

Ratatouille

Vegetables can also be used to prepare delicious fasting meals. Recipes for vegetable salads, stews and stews surprise with a variety of flavors. We invite you to try the original Italian vegetable dish Ratatouille. In the classic recipe, all vegetables are fried in hot water before baking.deep-fried. We slightly modified the cooking technology and got an equally tasty and even more he althy dish.

To prepare "Ratatouille" you will need the following products:

• red bell pepper - 1 pc.;
• 1 head of garlic;
• 1 onion;
• zucchini - 2 pieces;
• blue - 2 pieces;
• tomatoes - 0.5 kg;
• half a liter of tomato juice;
• sea s alt;
• fresh greens.

How to make Ratatouille

1. Peel the eggplants, cut into slices up to 1 cm wide and soak them in cold water for half an hour.
2. Peel the skin off the tomatoes by pouring boiling water over them.
3. Peel the skin of the zucchini.
4. To prepare the sauce, stew finely chopped onion and sweet pepper with a few cloves of garlic in half a glass of tomato juice until the vegetables are ready. S alt. Blend the mixture in a blender until a thick sauce forms.
5. Place food parchment in a baking dish, pour sauce on top about 1 cm thick.
6. Lay out vegetables, alternating eggplant, zucchini, tomato so that the vegetables end-to-end fill out the form, as in the photo below.
7. Now prepare the dressing. To do this, in a mortar you need to knead the greens, sea s alt and a few cloves of garlic. On allowed days, you can add olive oil. Top the vegetables with the prepared dressing.
8. Place the mold in the oven and bake at 180 degrees for an hour and a half until the vegetables are ready.

Dumplings with sauerkraut

What dish to cook in the post, surprising the household and even guests? Make dumplings! Few people know that such a traditional dish can be lean and at the same time no less tasty than the original. Only the filling will have to be replaced with vegetable. For dumplings with sauerkraut you will need the following products:

• flour - 500 g;
• glass of water;
• sunflower oil - 100 g;
• sauerkraut - 500 g;
• s alt to taste.

Preparing such a dish during Lent will not take much time. First you need to prepare the dough. Unfortunately, it is impossible to make it without vegetable oil - the dough will crumble. Therefore, such dumplings can please loved ones only on certain days of Great Lent.

In order to prepare the dough, you need to mix flour, water, sunflower oil and add s alt to taste. Place the kneaded dough in the refrigerator for an hour. Then roll out the sausages from the dough. Cut them into pieces, roll out circles. Then you need to squeeze sauerkraut from excess juice. Place the filling in the middle of each circle of dough and roll it into a dumpling shape. It remains only to cook the product in s alted boiling water for 5-7 minutes. Lean dumplings with sauerkraut are ready!

Pilaf with dried fruits

What dishes to cook in fasting for the main? After all, in Russian cuisine it is customary to consider meat treats as the main decorations of the table. You can offer to cook vegetable stew, porridge with mushrooms inpots, sauté, on certain days the highlight of the diet will be fish. We offer you a recipe for an unusual and satisfying pilaf. To prepare it, you need the following ingredients:

• rice (better to choose long-grain varieties) - 1.5 cups;
• a couple of large onions;
• carrot - 750 g;
• dried dates - 150g;
• dried apricots - 350 g;
• ginger root;
• lemon juice - 4 tbsp. l.;
• ground zira;
• ground coriander;
• ground cinnamon;
• vegetable broth - 3 cups;
• liquid honey - 2 tbsp. l.;
• sprig of mint;
• s alt.

How to cook pilaf

1. Rinse the rice and soak it in cold water for half an hour.
2. Clean vegetables.
3. Cut carrots into large bars, onions into rings.
4. Finely chop the ginger.
5. Sauté chopped vegetables in a saucepan. Add all spices, s alt.
6. Sweat the washed and dried dates with dried apricots in a separate saucepan with honey and lemon juice for 3-5 minutes.
7. Add the honey mixture to the saute pan with sauteed vegetables.
8. Put the rice in a colander. Then pour into a saucepan, level the surface and pour over the vegetable broth. Cover, reduce heat and simmer, without stirring, with lid closed, until rice is cooked through, about 20 minutes.
9. Remove from heat. Release steam by opening the lid. Put a sprig of mint on top and close the lid. Let the dish brew for another 10-15 minutes. Fragrant pilaf is ready!

Honey gingerbread

You can even prepare sweet dishes for Lent. Cooking honey lean gingerbread at home. They can pamper the household on any day of fasting. They will also become a worthy decoration of the festive table. However, do not forget that sweet dishes cannot be consumed in excess during Lent.

For their preparation you will need:

• glass of sugar;
• 500 g runny honey;
• a pinch of soda;
• 7 cups of flour;
• 1 tsp lemon juice;
• 4 cups of chilled purified water.

How to cook

1. Mix water, honey and sugar in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Melt until the sugar is completely dissolved. Then remove from heat. Let the mixture cool.
2. Knead the dough by mixing the honey mass with flour and soda slaked with lemon juice. Put the dough in the refrigerator for half an hour.
3. Roll out the dough to a width of 2 cm. Press out the molds.
4. Bake the gingerbread on a baking sheet at 220 degrees for 20 minutes.
5. You can decorate pastries with powdered sugar or jam.

Recipes for meals during Lent can be created independently, slightly modifying the classic ones and replacing the necessary products. In this way, original Lenten dishes are obtained, which the hostess can safely serve to the festive table.

Fruit Cake

What to cook holiday dishes in fasting? Of course, the real cake! To prepare a delicious biscuit-fruit cake, you will need the following products:

• flour - 3 cups;
• one and a half glasses of fruit juice to taste;
• sugar - 400 g;
• zest from 2 oranges;
• sunflower oil - 4 tbsp. l.;
• 2 sachets of baking powder;
• vanillin - 2 packs;
• s alt to taste.

For the cream you need to prepare the following ingredients:

• sugar - 5 tbsp. l.;
• any juice - 2 cups;
• semolina (groats) - 3 tbsp. l.

To impregnate the cakes, you will need 2 large spoons of sugar and 500 g of juice.

Cooking the cake

1. Knead the dough with the ingredients needed for the cakes. Divide it in half and bake 2 sponge cakes at 200 degrees for 20 minutes.
2. Send one cake to the refrigerator. Leave the other on the table, covered with a napkin.
3. Prepare the impregnation by mixing the juice with sugar. Soak her biscuit cake. Then leave it to cool in the refrigerator as well.
4. Prepare the cream. To do this, mix the juice with sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Then gradually introduce semolina and cook like regular porridge until cooked.
5. Cool the cream and beat thoroughly with a blender.
6. Take the cakes out of the cold. Lay them on top of each other and spread cream on all sides.
7. If desired, you can decorate the top with nuts, coconut flakes or fruit slices.

Conclusion

Even from a seemingly meager list of products, you can cook unusually delicious dishes in the post. Recipes offered by usIf you wish, you can improve it yourself with a little imagination.