Cooking for 60 people

[Bint_e_Naeem]

Re: Cooking for 60 people

@Lusi

Honestly, I do not know the number of kids. I am guessing around maybe 10 under 12. We will be sponsoring for a small masjid that has around 60 people for iftar. That is what I was told by the organizers.

Salad…simple garden salad (lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives).

Since its a Masjid I would recommend playing safe & cooking for 60 adults & then getting 2,3 large cheese pizzas on the side for kids.

Great choice for salad. Its Ramadan. People are fasting. No one prefers heavy cream based salads after fasting all day. Do you guys know if the food will be served at two different places? Brothers & sisters side separate? If yes then do two small trays of salad otherwise 1 large pan should be enough.

@Lusi

I need estimate on the quantity of food for 60 people for ramzan iftar.

My menu is dates, chicken curry, plain matar rice, naan, salad, cantaloupes for dessert, pizza for kids.

I was planning on getting 90 leg quarters cut into 3 pieces for curry. Is that enough? I will be adding potatoes to the chicken curry.

How many rice trays should I make? (I am thinking about 2.) How many cups can one tray hold?

I am planning on getting 50 naans cut into halves. Is that enough, less, or too much?

One leg quarter sold at most Halal meat stores is roughly a little over half a pound. 90 leg quarters would mean almost 45 lbs meat after cleaning & cutting. That’s a lot of meat for 60 people. Since its outsiders & you are probably not sure about how “Meat inclined” the crowd is do 70 leg quarters. You might end up with some leftovers but 60 leg quarters might end up being a littles less. If I was a hosting an iftar at home I would do 60 leg quarters. 30 lbs meat. 1/2 lb for one person. If it was regular whole chicken cut into 14-60 pieces than one lb easily feeds 3 people for one meal provided there is not more than one meat item. Since leg quarters have more bone 1/2 lb per person including potatoes is reasonable amount of meat thinking some women might not eat that much but men might end up eating more than 1/2 lb.

One large aluminum tray/pan of rice holds 7 to 7 1/2 tea cups of rice. By tea cups I mean a standard 1 cup measure, not coffee mugs or “glasses”. That’s a little less than half a sack of the usual 10 lbs Basmati rice sack sold at most Desi grocery stores in US.

1 cup rice easily feeds two people if rice is the only main dish (keeping our Desi appetite in mind). Since you have 2 main dishes. 1 cup rice will be enough for 4 people. That being said, two large rice trays made with 7 1/2 cups rice will feed exactly 60 people. So your “hisab” there is perfect.

Don’t know how large the naans are but 50 naans are a lot. Get 35 Naans cut into 4 pieces. Depending on how much gravy you have in your curry you may or may not end up with some leftovers.

Not sure about the dessert quantity. I am assuming 1 large tray of cantaloupe should be good enough. Good luck & Jazak Allah Khair for feeding “Rozaydaars”