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Drinks are the same, I may try to make some sort of lassi yogurt drinks or chai tea, but if it takes too long to do the other dishes I won’t worry about serving something simpler. vegetables – find recipes using what I have on hand:įortunately dessert isn’t a big deal, but I’ll see if something appeals to me.rice – plain basmati or a vegetarian pulao or even biriyani.dhal (lentils cooked until creamy): coconut dhal or garlic dhal or madras sambal.some sort of chicken dish – seafood and red meat are too expensive or take longer to cook.something with fresh fenugreek (a difficult-to-find fresh herb I have on hand).The yogurt raita and rice both help with spicy food, and the dhal can if I don’t decide to make it spicy. The only remaining criterion to keep in mind are preparation time and how spicy the dishes are. With so many vegetarians in India, it’s not at all difficult to round out the meal with a lot of different textures and colors. Plus, relying on filling staples like rice, beans, and potatoes and de-emphasizing meat dishes is always more economical. That’s just the way my mom cooked, and it’s still how I prepare menus. Growing up, I didn’t need a food pyramid to know that a well balanced meal should include starches, fruits and vegetables, protein/meat, dairy, and only a small amount of sugars and salts. On a practical/nutritional standpoint I’ll go back to what my Mom taught me. I will need to keep in mind that I’ll probably have vegetarians (not difficult) and the spice-averse (sometimes difficult) on the guest list. I don’t know a lot about traditional Indian menus, but I do know that I’ll have some kind of rice, dhal (lentils) and raita (yogurt salad), along with whatever other vegetable and meat curries I decide on.
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Recipes I’ve tried before and/or have all the ingredients on hand get first choice. Of course with the time constraints and unknown factors, I’m going to try to do things that are easy to prepare and not too expensive. So not a weeknight dinner party.īut regardless of scale or time, the basic principles still apply- whatever I make I want it to be filling and colorful and delicious. That’s also with two days to shop and a whole Saturday spent cooking. That’s after 14 or 15 people ate and most of them had seconds of something. Here is the result of one such dinner (everything below is leftovers): This is not always the smartest strategy. If I have the time, my usual strategy is to make enough food for everyone who could possibly come, then extra in case they invite friends. I’m planning a dinner party for this Friday – I know I’m making Indian food, but not how many people I’m serving.