i’m in need of help picking out a nice and easyish lunch menu.
guest are six adults and and five children. all are desi but don’t have any particular fixation for desi food only.
dont want a menu too heavy or extensive as the guests are going to be traveling/driving right after lunch.
i shall have just about one day to prep everything … also lunch time is noon so wont have a heck of a lot of time to make it all just before their arrival. so nothing that needs hours and hours of cooking.
oo n i’ve got no decent ideas to get you started (i’m feeling pretty brain dead atm)
random thoughts as I type …
ashak/aushak
qabuli pulao
some sort of kabab (like koobideh)
or
thai basil chicken curry made with coconut milk
rice
spring rolls
I like the thai basil chicken curry and rice idea! It will be a little different! You could totally add satay skewers that can be grilled in advance! Along with the spring rolls, that would be a light menu!
we just had the entire khandan visit us in lil bursts spread out over the last 2 months… and our life revolved around food and what to feed the ppl admist the difficult period.. none of us felt like cooking… and with 4 kids under the age of 3.. it had to be super fast.
this is what we made.. u can put the menu together yourself.. but a few ideas
-club sandwiches... takes 15 mins. keeps you full for quite some time
potatos in white sauce.. its a danish dish but a winner everytime. u just thickly slice up potatoes. lay them in a deep dish that is oven safe. tkae some ready made white sauce (unless u wanna make it yourself) and layer it.. makes rough layers and nothin neat.. but ya.. keep going until you reach the top.. add shredded mozerella… takes 30 mins in the oven (this went together with teh club sandwiches)
-since we didnt have the time nor the want to make dahi baray.. we went ghetto and made dhai boondi instead. takes 5 mins.
bought packs of b**hel poori **by haldiraam .. this was a life saver and a real hit with everyone! (you can buy it at any desi store).. u just have to add in your onions and tomatoes. thats it.
chickpea chaat. again very filling and takes 5 mins to throw together
spanish omlette. self explanatory.
**
tortilla wraps, chili con carne and torilla chips with melted cheese and salsa.**. etc. u know that kinda crazy stuff
depends on how many layers of bread you want.. i usually do 4
u butter them all.
the first layer.. i put any kinda processed meat like salami of any kind.
put a slice of bread over it..
layer on some mayo. ( u can add any dressing you want). add sliced cucumber, lettuce and sliced tomato. put a slice of cheese on top of that.
put another slice of bread on.
add half fried egg. ( u can make it any way really.. but usually its a half fried egg so the yolk bleeds through when eating.. mmmm.. juicy). sprinkle black pepper and salt
put the last pce of bread on top. cut in half or 4 small triangles.
thank you ladies!
now … can anyone just make all of that stuff and feed it to me instead?
khawa i like your idea of potato au gratin and khatti yours of the satay skewers … maybe I can do like a bunch of appetizers instead of a cohesive lunch lunch.
I absolutely love appetizers! That being said it is time consuming and you have to make a bunch of them . Instead I would suggest making a rice dish like biryani or matter pullao. You can make matter pullao in a rice cooker as well. Just add black zeera, thaze pata, fried onions, and course peas to basmati rice.
Make a meat Salan. You can make boneless chicken really quickly. Add colored bell pepper and onions, whipped yoghurt to chicken. Use any shan masala .
Make daal. Khatti has a good daal recipe. You can fry some store bought samosas.
Make palak paneer.
Heat up some Texas toasts…
You could make keema with peas if you make some other rice dish.
Anyways I find that making entrees is easier than making appetizers.
the number of guests has gone up since my last post … so appetizer idea is definitely out.
so revamped plan now is
for kids: pizza, chicken nuggets, fries
adults: chicken biryani, achar gosht, roasted chicken drumsticks, naan, raita, salad
for desert … ras malai, fruit tart (store bought if i can find a good one) or cheesecake/cake, cookies
I feel like thats too much meat … and the chicken drumsticks should be replaced by a vegi dish … or keep the drumsticks and add something else to this …
yes you can either skip drum stick n make some vegetable or keep drum sticks n instead of chicken biryani make vegetable palaou , and for dessert I think just keep ras malai n either fruit tart or cheese cake n cookies for kids.
I made dinner for few friends last week, this was my menu, nuggest n fries for kids.
chicken palau, chicken karahai, seehk kebab n malai boti (we don’t eat meat so everything was chicken) macroni salad, n naan n raita.
for dessert I simply made mango caremal delight. in the end green tea
OK I cannot resist myself any longer and have to say it like it is. When I first read this I was kind of weirded out with the fried egg part. However a week later I cannot stop thinking about this sandwich! I need to try it, sounds so good to me!!!
