In the UK this is a TV show (which I must add I LOVE! For those of you not in the UK just youtube ‘Come Dine With Me’ for a sneak peek to the show).
The idea behind it is that there are 5 contestants who are complete strangers to each other who each host a dinner party at their house on one night during the working week (contestant 1 on Monday, contestant 2 on Tuesday etc.)
The host will cook a starter/main/dessert and the other 4 guests will then score their host out of 10 for the evening (taking in to consideration mainly the food, but also entertainment, hospitality etc). The winner is the person with the most points on the final evening after each dinner party has been voted for.
The prize is £1,000.
So, imagine that you are a participant in this show. What would you cook?
So, the judges are also contestants then? What if they deliberately (although you can't really prove it) pick flaws in the host's cooking/entertaining because obviously they want to win themselves. Wouldn't it be better to reduce the bias by picking judges that are not contestants?
And you'd also have to consider the preferences of the judges right? For example, if the judges don't like spicy food....and knowing that desi food tends to be spicy....you'd have to tone it down. Or if a judge is allergic/or doesn't like a particular ingredient. And the appearance of food should be considered. For example, a dish such as haleem that looks normal to us....might not look appetizing to a non-desi due to it's color.
I've seen a show with a similar contest. Where there are four brides. And each bride invites the other three to attend her wedding....and then critique her dress/makeup/food/organization, etc.
Out of desi foods....hmmm....some ideas that come to mind for
appetizers: Gol guppay (they provide a variety of textures...soft and crunchy...sweet and sour, a party in your mouth). Can't be any complaints about it being greasy. And maybe cutlets like shami kabab. Small chicken tikka pieces. Three seem good enough, lol.
**main course: **A rice dish such as biryani, a chicken curry dish (chicken karahi or butter chicken). A dark meat curry dish (nihari or korma). Kababs. A vegetable dish (either cholay or palak). Raita and a few chutneys. Naan. I think the main course should cover a variety of foods and (rice, meat, vegetables), so that it's more balanced.
dessert: *Kulfi with falooda....it's so refreshing, filling, and fun to eat. It should be enough on it's own, but if I had to include something else....it would be something simple like gulab jamun.
*
Beverages: lassi (mango lassi...mmm) can be served. Or even rooh-afza would be traditional...although I don't like it. These can be served with appetizers.
For me , I love hosting dinners and totally totally focus on presentation , which is my favourite bit in the entire process
I recently did a dinner …:
Starter: 2 pieces of Vegetable spring roll and one piece mince meat dumpling made of phyllo pastry and cheese … put in each dinner plate and using a cone filled with ketchup and another cone filled with green mint sauce , decorate the plates with the two sauces …
Main Course :
Chicken biryani
Koftay
Lamb korma
Vege/lentil dish
**Sides : **
-Mix Kabab platter : fish Fillet, Mince seekh kabab, aloo kabab
-Salad Platter : baked potato wedges on one side , french fries on the other side … and cole slaw or russian salad in the middle
-Home made naan and a few paratha’s …
Dessert : Two of them : Home made cheese cake and fruit custard trifle
I love that programme, and have pondered what I would cook many times, but haven't come up with a definative menu yet. I know when asian food has been served in the past the host generally gone for the 'more is more' mentality and cooked enough food to feed an army, with 10's of dishes. I don't think that's quite the right approach.
Sumal I have shared it a few times , just search with keywords Chicken biryani naan recipe and you will get it .. if not let me know and i will write it up for you again
Tiger , I know what you mean… however in asian tradition , having various dishes or at least 2-3 main dishes and some sides is considered a welcoming gesture to the guests on the part of the host … more like " a little something for everyone" …
and another thing, say if there are 10 people coming , I dont make each dish enough for 10 people rather I ensure that the combined food is enough for 10 people …
I love that show, Did anyone watch the asian looking women Bhindi’s episode, She was a complete weirdo and had no etiquattes whatsoever, like she was tasting everything with same chamcha knowing she will aired on tv
I love the show…my ammi’s says, why don’t you try making something instead of just watching the shows Also, like MasterChef
Can’t think what I would cook for starters and main..desserts would definitely include, Ras Malai, Gulab Jamun with home made vanilla ice cream and/ or strawberry cheescake yum
It’s not just the 2 or 3 main dishes I’m referring too, that’s what I would do. I remember seeing one programme where the host had cooked about 15 dishes. That’s too overwhelming I think.
i LOVE this show and my sisters recreated it for my parents. basically we cooked three dishes each and then got our parents to come to our "dinner party" and judge which one was best.
I am addicted to this show, my sky hard drive has nothing else but CDWM episodes
I love the commentators sarcastic comments, the shows without him aren’t as good. I enjoy the ones with desi contestants though - the one where that woman took her own bottle of chilli sauce with her to the other peoples dinner parties was great.
I’d love to go on the show but the only thing that stops me from applying is that I would hate people to go looking around my house and cupboards. Not that I have anything weird to hide but I’d hate for some stranger to rummage through my wardrobes
… I will keep it in mind definitely 