I think what happens is, lets say you invite 6 people and you make 4 dishes. You make that four dishes enough for errr 7-8 people but you don't realize that altogether those 4 dishes can be A LOT. I never make less than 3-4 dishes but I never make it more of anything. If I make biryani and qorma, of course not everyone will be able to eat lots of biryani and qorma and both dishes together is a lot for anyone.
I am hardly ever left with anything when I have dawat. That's how I like it.
Spiral , thats where my confusion starts .. say I make koftay , karahi and biryani and two more dishes … what if they all want more of koftay after taking one serving each
Like it happened the other day , I had 5 guests over plus me and hubby , 7 people all together. I made 9 koftay , 9 chicken pieces in the karahi dish, 10 kababs and basically 9 or 10 of everything in a total of five dishes. Come dinner time and the guests toot paro’d on the koftay .. they were eating the rest of the stuff but everyone was enquiring about koftay kidar gaye !
So now I have to keep in mind that situation , where rather then filling up with a little of each dish they just toot paro on a particular dish .. I must have enough of each dish to give at least two servings each to the guest …
To me, my rice dishes are always in more demand. Biryani I always make more of because my husband doesn't mind eating leftover.
I made about 7 koftay for 4 people. That way if they take two each, I am still good (not everyone would take two). Kabab I never make more than 6 for 4 people.
You have to find your hit dish. Mine is biryani so I know I have to make more of that than anything else. I also see who I am cooking for. Hubby's friend would eat a lot more than my friends or kids invited to dawat.
I always make extra of starters and nibbles as people tend to eat more of those. So if there are 6 people coming for dinner, I will cook starters for around 10 people and more often than not it gets eaten up.
With your main course you can get away with cooking less as not everyone will eat just one thing, people like to try a bit of everything. If you have 6 people over for dinner, don't cook four dishes for 6 people, because then you will have 24 portions of food for 6 people. Does that make sense CB?
But then again, this is pashtun appetites we are talking about. If we haven't consumed half of Old Mcdonalds farm by the end of the meal we're still hungry :p
I agree with the others.....maybe its just my family......but we cook waaaayy more.....my mom puts 1 whole leg for the men and 1 piece of chicken for women and children and then makes a few extra (this is roast) ......our family is huge but for example we had 30 odd people over so we made around 60ish kebabs.....the thing is some kids don't eat the rice and just go after the kebabs and stuff.......for meat dishes my mom counts the people and uses a certain amount of pounds of meat for X amount of people, she doesn't count the chicken or ghosht pieces......for rice we have a estimate how much our one 'glass' feeds......but ya it comes with time I would think.......we always have a small amount of leftovers....maybe enough for the next day
but If I think about it......we have way more people, than just two, to finish it up.......
yes guys you noticed correctly that the portions are smaller .. thats because I have a full starter course ahead of the main course .. which includes mixed grill ( chicken tikka’s , lamb tikka’s , fish tikka’s , roasted potatoes etc ) … so with the main course , I would think that the guest will go for say, 1 kofta , one or two pieces of chicken , little bit of some other salan etc …
as a rule they shouldnt toot paro on one dish:naraz: … hai na ? coz the stupid host spent hours making five other dishes :crying: so they should try a little of everthing … thats what I keep in mind while making dawats …
.. they were eating the rest of the stuff but everyone was enquiring about koftay kidar gaye !
… you caught me buddy