Hi all,

I am wanting to cook a beautiful Indian meal for my friends many of who rarely eat Indian foods (so this will be a treat for them)

I am not very experienced in cooking indian food but cook every month or so and do have my favorites and thought I might do 3 or 4 courses spread out over a few hours (is this normal in indian cookery?)

To start I was going to do small chicken tikka kebabs with a mint raita as people arrive.

Then for a starter a prawn patia with maybe some puri (?) by the way there is a beautiful and delicious prawn patia recipe on this site.

Then for main course a vegatable curry ...possible dhal saag with chapati (because i love it!) and a meat curry with rice. Any suggestions for the meat curry ??? something quite saucy and flavoursome without being too hot.

Lastly is there a simple dessert that anyone can suggest.

Many thanks for your help :)

Sounds great so far !

As for a tasty meat curry, you can pick any ! some you might have to ease off with the chilli if you don't want it too hot though!

The pudding course may be a little more difficult unless you go for something like an Indian Rice pudding (do a search on this site and you find many many different puddings/deserts/sweets to look at, but some are very difficult to get perfect even experienced Indian chefs leave some of them to the experts !)

Steve

Hi BecsNZ

Your menu seems fine to me. You can make Chicken Curry Afghani , instead iof meat. It is VERY easy to make.

You can also make some Pickled Onions as a side dish, roast a few popodoms (cook in advance and then keep in a sealed plastic bag).

For dessert, here are two simple ideas; Apricot Moyusse from Hyderabad or Vermicilli Milk Pudding.

have a great party!

Mamta

be careful what you give them as a 'welcomer', as I have found such treats go down so well, the early birds stuff themselves, so there is none for the late comers (yes, I know, serve them right!) but the stuffed ones are not so hungry later!.

Also remember a meal with courses is a very western thing. If many dishes are served in India, this is usually as a thali, all dishes, rice, pickles, papads, bread, etc. are served on a thali (flat tray with katori (little metal dishes)) or on a banana leaf, and eaten with the right hand.

Even if you can't manage the trays, or banana leaves, get them to eat with their fingers, its a great ice breaker and leveler, and saves on the washing up!

Lapis has a point about early birds. I have a couple of friends who always turn up late. I tend to save them some ?starters?. An alternatively is to serve things already on plates as starters. Chicken tikka can be served on a bed of finely shredded lettuce on individual plates. Mint chutney can be in a small bowl with a spoon, passed around. This also stops people stuffing themselves.

People in India often serve hot vegetable soups in small mugs before meals, as an appetizer. You see waiters going around in trays of such mugs at large parties and weddings, especially winter ones. I often do this too. One easy way to make Indian style vegetable soup is to buy a couple of cartons of vegetables juice (like V8), heat it through, add a little black pepper, salt if it hasn?t got salt already, and give it a cumin tarka. Stir in a handful of finely chopped coriander leaves. You may or may not add a dollop of cream on top in each mug.

It is true that ?meal courses? are a Western thing traditionally, but many, many Indian serve food as courses now a days. I do that too sometimes.

Thali, though traditional, is not very commonly used by the middle classes, even in India. Some restaurants do it to bring back memories. I am over 60 now and we used plates in my parent?s house when I was growing up, had a sit down meal around a table, chatting away, and we used spoons, not fingers to eat, unless it was something special that had to be eaten with fingers. Not many modern families in the north eat with their fingers, again more common in the south or east India and in traditional families only. Most north Indians use a spoon to eat food, some now use forks, but not many.

Most Indian families sit down and have ?proper? meals around a table, not in front of TV but unfortunately that is coming too! In southern India, people tend to be more traditional. Eating on banana leaves is more of ?special treat? not a regular thing. This was never common in Central and northern India, where bananas do not grow in abundance. They had plates made from wide leaves of tree, but not for everyday use, only for big feasts, as disposable plates.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

Yes, I was a little concerned about doing too much appertizer so that people wouldn't fill up and not being able to eat later on which is why i'm now going to do tiny little kebabs and try and limit to 2 each.

The Afghani chicken curry sounds delicious and I shall try it out tomorrow. Am I able to substitute the black cumin for normal cumin seeds? We live in New Zealand (where it is still 1992! ...when we first moved out here from the UK in 2000 I had to drive 2 hours to get a decent Indian curry!)...and even though the supplies of Indian foods and spices are getting better I don't think I have even seen black cumin seeds.

The Apricot dessert sounded delicious as well. Another idea I had for a dessert was a cardamon ice cream, this would be a kind of "fusion" dessert of east and west. Another idea would be a cinnamon ice cream to serve with the Apricot dessert (I have always liked apricot and cinnamon flaovurs together)

Thanks again everyone. And Mamta, this website is great! it's so nice to not only have the recipes but also some background on them and a forum to ask questions and share ideas.

Hi BecNZ

Normal cumin is fine. Black jeera or Shahi jeera as it is commonly known in India, is generally used for rich or Shahi (fit for a king ;-)) dishes!

You can make apricot dessert with tinned condensed milk or even cream if you like.

Do come back and tell us how your fusion desserts come out. Take a few pictures, write down the exact recipe and send it to me via contact link, if it come out nice and if you want to share your recipes with thousands of other visitors here.

Have a great party

Mamta

Mamta - your V8 juice soup sounds sensational. I wouldnt have dreamed of doing that. We've always got a bottle or two of this in the fridge. I will definately give that a go. My wife will no doubt think im crazy....until she tastes it.

Cheers

Steve

p.s. BecsNZ - have fun. It sounds great. Allow yourself a good few hours before they arrive and dont forget to enjoy the cooking. I love having people over to share my indian dinners. If they arrive too early do what I do and get them involved in making rotis, breads, poppodoms. Its good fun.

Cheers

Steve

Ok, last night I made the Chicken Curry Afghani and it was delicious, lovely and rich and creaming with so much delicate flavour (my husband wasn?t that keen but sometimes I think he thinks flavour is heat!) I served it with the pickled onions as you suggested and boy were they hot!! I may try again with some milder onions.

Q. At first the curry was very thick and was sticking to the base of the pan so I had to add about half to a whole cup of water ?is that normal in this curry? (It was left with a thick sauce at serving)

Q. Am I able to cook this ahead and reheat when the guests are here or is it best served straight away?

I also made the Apricot Mousse from Hyderabad, again it was delicious and VERY nice served with a homemade cinnamon ice cream (I will email you the recipe Mamta)

Q. When it says to soak the apricots and then puree the flesh does this mean with the soaking water? because I found the mixture very difficult to push through a sieve and had a lot of stringy pulp left afterwards.

Q. How long will this recipe last in the fridge?

And even more questions (sorry!)

Q. With the Prawn Patia can I make the sauce in advance and then reheat and add the prawns at the last minute?

Q. From experience I know that the Puri will need to be made fresh (as they go soggy and greasy) but can I make the chapattis in advance and then re heat in the microwave?

Q. And lastly... any ideas on how to ripen mangos faster?

Thank you very much

Glad to hear that your meal went well.

1. Pickled onions can be made without any chillies at all or with a small amo8nt of chillies.

2. Thickness of sauce is your own choice and of course you can add water. For buffets, it is better to have a thicker sauce, much easier to serve and eat standing around.

3. Yes you can cook it ahead. I usually cook all my meats and complicated curries the day before the party. It tastes better.

4. I will look forward to your cinnamon ice-cream recipe.

5. You can puree apricots with a little milk, as mentioned in the recipe. Add as much as you need, making sure that it is not watery. I do not pass it through a sieve, a few ?bits? of apricots in it give it a nice texture.

6. If you put the rice in the fridge immediately after you finished eating, you can leave it in the fridge for 3-4 days. Alternatively, you can freeze it in portions you normally use. Make sure you heat it through in either microwave or in a pan. Add a couple of tbs. of water before heating, to give enough steam to help this and make the rice soft again.

7. Prawn Patia, or any other curry for that matter, sauce can be made in advance to save time on the day of a party. Some working people do this too, make their curry sauce on week-end and then use it during the week as and when required.

8. Poories can be made in advance. Most people do, as there is no way you can make them hot for a party, unless you have hired help to do this for you. Chapatties can also be made in advance. I wrap them in double layer of aluminum foil, about 20 chapatties per pack, and then leave them in the hostess trolley for an hour to heat. You can heat them in a warm oven (180 or so) for 20 minute. Microwave makes them very dry and leather like in my experience, but a few of my friends do this; 5-6 chapatties in a pile, 1 minute on full power.

9. Traditionally, mangoes were ripened by putting them in a drum of wheat (gehun) this is how my grandmother and mother did it. You can wrap them in newspapers individually and leave them in a warm place, checking every day until they ripe. Leaving a banana or two in the same basket also helps.

The meal was great and I had such a lot of fun preparing it.

Our guests loved the differnet tastes, although a few people did find the Prawn Patia a bit hot ...they actually had sweat running from their face and heads!

Thanks again

I am glad that your meal went well.

This is one of the problem with chilli powders. They are all different. You should generally add what you think is the right amount for the powder you have. If you don't know, add only a little and then adjust a little at a time.

Mamta