Desi Vegetarian Dishes

Lifestyle Parenting, Household Affairs and Cuisine corner
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My husband is inviting some couples from his work on Sunday. Some of them are Hindu-vegetarians. I’m not used to cooking many desi vegetarian saalans/dishes, so no clue. For the ones who are non-vegetarians, I’m making goat biryani, haleem, chicken karahi, chicken tikka, and shaami kababs. Of course there will be salad, raita, and chutney too.

So what should I make for the vegetarian people? There’re 6 adults and 4 kids who are vegetarians.

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Re: Desi Vegetarian Dishes

Do a quick search on here for daal/sabzi threads…there are dozens of threads with lots of good vegetarian recipes..some examples are

Aloo Baigan
Paneer tikka masala
Shahi paneer
aloo palak
bhindi
lauki & channa daal
channay ka saalan
mattar pulao

The possibilities are endless!

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Re: Desi Vegetarian Dishes

Paneer tikka…bainghein raita…mixed veggie biryani…aloo tikkis…kachoomaar salad
Ufff this is making me want to have a veggie delight evening at home :yummy:

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Re: Desi Vegetarian Dishes

Hmm…u have four non-veg dishes…r u planning to make that many veg dishes as well? That’s a lot if work, no? You have two chicken dishes…consider eliminating one of them. You can eliminate the chicken karahi, because you already have a salan (haleem). Or you can eliminate the chicken tikka because you already have a dry meat dish (the shami kababs). If you don’t want to, that’s fine. Just a suggestion. I figured that way there’d be less work for u…since ur preggers and have been advised bed rest…then why not take it easy, right?

As for veg dishes, here are some examples:

Karelay
Bhindi
Baingan
Palak with potatoes or paneer
Saag
Daal
Chanay
Daal with squash
Arvi
Malai kofta
Karhi
Mixed vegetable salan
Even plain aloo with a bit of curry
Gobi aloo

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Good suggestions! Thanks guys! The thing is no one eats plain sabzi in my house so I have to have meat dishes for them too. Also, hubby doesn’t want any kind of daal either. I can probably eliminate shaami kababs and make aloo kababs instead. That’s a good idea. Also, hubby wants me to eliminate chicken tikka and do lamb chops instead. I’ve never made any paneer dishes, I don’t want it to be a disaster (although I can follow a recipe well) but lets see. From what I’ve heard, Paneer is Hindu people’s chicken, so might as well make that :slight_smile: Malai Kofta sounds delicious, but never made that either. I’ll finalize the rest of the menu with hubby tonight iA :slight_smile:

RV: Yes, it is a lot of work :frowning: I’m starting the preparations from today. Even though I’m not feeling well (and no help from anyone) I wanna make hubby happy before I leave next week :slight_smile:

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Re: Desi Vegetarian Dishes

I say you should eliminate haleem and shami kabobs as they are too much work and you should not even be out of your bed.
Cant you get this one dawaat catered? Why did you hubby invite people when he knew you are not to do too much work?

However, to answer your question, you could do pakore or aloo samosey or chana chaat as an appetizer for both vegetarians and non-veg guests.
Palak paneer or palak daal aloo (it tastes so yummy) are very easy to make and you cannot really overcook palak like some other veggies.
Kadhi is another great and easy dish. It literally takes 10 minutes.
You could do a fried veggie rice/spaghetti or a veggie pulao.

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Hubby really wants haleem and biryani, no compromising on those two :(. Hubby has promised to help me with “some” stuff. I’m doing most of the stuff sitting on the chair/couch. He’s inviting them now coz one of the guys is moving and it’s like a farewell for him, he was close to hubby. Catering was an option I suggested but there’s only one lady near us that caters here (no good restaurants either) and hubby doesn’t like her cooking. I will talk to him again when he gets back to lighten up the menu. You’re right. I just started taking out and preparing stuff and it already seems like a lot. Thanks for your concern too :slight_smile:

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Desi Vegetarian Dishes

Serve pizza for the kids. Get it from any pizzeria. Haleem can made ahead and frozen. you can buy frozen samosas from Indian store. There many good appetizers that are frozen in the Indian store. Any suggestion is to hire somebody to help for 2 or 3 hrs for the party. Cleaning ladies will help if you give them am hourly amt. again it depends on your budget and amount.

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Re: Desi Vegetarian Dishes

I would take haleem out, instead make daal, some sort of palak, begain, and chanay.

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Re: Desi Vegetarian Dishes

Then try to eliminate the chicken karhai and shami kabobs then so you will be making two main dishes (haleem and biryani), a veggie dish, and and two appetizers (chicken tandoori and 1 veggie app like channa chat, pakoray, etc).

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Re: Desi Vegetarian Dishes

ps. this is off topic but why did your husband invite people considering your health condition and knowing his mother is of no help.

I think you should simplify this menu.

2 meat dishes
2 vegetarian dishes
salad
raita
store bought sweet dish,ice cream, cake, pie, etc.

There are so many good restaurants here in Atlanta.

You know you are creating trouble for yourself by agreeing to dawats and all that cooking in this condition.

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It was a farewell for one of his friends, they’re moving. Yes, I was tired as heck but he did help out this time. I don’t live in the main city and there aren’t any halal restaurants in our area. But, I ended up getting the veggie dishes from an Indian restaurant. It was getting too hectic :/.

So I made haleem, biryani, karahi chicken, raita, salad, and shaami kababs ( btw, I already had frozen shaami from before, just had to fry them). And we ordered malai kofta, shaahi paneer, mix pakora, and dal makhani from the Indian restaurant. Even the non-veg people enjoyed the veggie stuff, so that was good. I served an ice-cream cake for dessert :slight_smile: