Lucknow: The LPG shortage is casting a dark shadow on Eid dish preparations, and the residents in the city are opting for ready-made dishes instead of cooking traditional meals like sewai and biryani.Families dependent on single cylinders say that they cannot wait for refills.Hajra Bano and her family, residents of Sadar Bazaar, said this will be the first time they will not prepare sewai at home. She said the dish holds emotional value, as it was based on her late grandmother’s recipe.“Sewai requires a lot of cooking gas, and our refill hasn’t arrived yet. We have decided not to cook it this year,” she said, adding that it was disheartening to skip a tradition she cherished.Shabbir, a resident of Purana Qila, said he has decided to order sewai from outside this year, as cooking at home is no longer feasible. “We are planning to order dishes from caterers or food outlets if we don’t get the refill on time,” he said.In Burlington, a newly married woman expressed her disappointment, as she planned to prepare qiwami sewai and sheer khurma for Eid, which takes around half-an-hour to cook and requires continuous gas, but with the limited availability, it is difficult for her to go ahead with preparations.Chef Afzal Qureshi highlighted, “The traditional qiwami siwai and sheer khurma require a lot of cooking to make sugar syrup, and they consume a large amount of fuel. However, there are many preparations like water-based siwai that require a lesser amount of fuel.”Asma Iqbal, a resident of Husainganj, said she will be spending Eid at her sister’s home along with her daughter, as she has run out of cooking gas, resulting in a departure from her usual practice of celebrating the festival at her own home every year.“There is no LPG gas at home, and the refill hasn’t arrived yet. I had no choice but to go to my sister’s place,” said Asma.Residents also said that they are now turning to alternatives such as namkeens and ready-made sweets to manage Eid preparations.“We have decided to keep it simple this year and buy readymade items like mixed namkeen and mathri, as preparing dishes like sewai requires time and running gas,” said Rehana Khan, a resident of Cantonment. Another local of the area, Baby, said the shift to ready-made food was not a preference but a compulsion.
