I have seen that from time to time my mother asks us all what to cook for dinner..most of the time she just pulls something out of the freezer like qeema(chicken) or chicken to cook but asks what dish to cook..To make everyone’s life easier.. i was thinking of either designing a menu plan for two weeks or for a month…coz weekly plan would be repetitive..
We eat international food as well..but someone my father and siblings always want traditional food at dinner..dinner at my place always includes roti, one daal, rice, one chicken/chicken qeema/fish dish and often a vegetable dish..sometimes vegetable is part of the meat dish too..
So, feel free to discuss how things are run in your families/and or if you have any suggestions :)..even guys can tell what their moms, sisters and wives cook at home..it will give me some ideas..
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*Originally posted by Qrius: *
dinner at my place always includes roti, one daal, rice, one chicken/chicken qeema/fish dish and often a vegetable dish..sometimes vegetable is part of the meat dish too..
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Ah!!...lucky you... munch munch on a pizza
Our family had a one dish policy....with rice or roti.
LoL that reminds me… My Ma used to ask the same question a lot.. like ‘Ajj kiya pakaon!!!’ which we replied with ‘Kuch Bhi Paka Lain’ .. n she used to get really angry.. but ends up cookin sumthin really nice …anyway .. one day when she asked n we said ‘kuch Bhi Paka Lain’ … she came back with this smart retort that 'Ghar main ‘Kuch Bhi’ Khatam Hogaya Hay … ajj Kuch Or Pakana Paray Ga.. Juldee Butao Kiya Pakaon Warna Main Karelaya Paka Loon Gee ’ :o .. nobody in my family likes karelay .. so we told her to cook ‘Daal’ instead
At our house, roti is much more frequently cooked than chawal. If we have chawal, then roti isn't cooked, and vice versa unless its a dawat where we usually have naan too. In a regular meal, we usually have two salans with roti. Yogurt is always present, cuz i lurrrve yogurt. Ammi always asks kiya pakaon, but we are always like jo marzi pakaa lein and then she gets angry and cooks whatever :D But it's always good.
Aleezay, i like karailay, as long as they have a lot of masala, and i can empty it out and hand it over to my dad :D
we don't do the...cook everyday thing...my mom, my sis and I do everything on saturday morning...some of the stuff stays in the fridge..the other stuff goes into the freezer. We hardly make roti at home...mostly have rice or naan. Roti only appears in Ramadan :D
Umm..as for international dishes....we have a lot of those..steaks, lasgna, chilli, spagetti, soups, etc etc..lol I guess you could say we're multhi-ethnic eating people ;)
Good thread. The question is popped up in every household. The problem with mine is that when Mom asks what to cook & you say "Chicken Manchori" ... she usually replies with "Meray kol nahin ayy time anee mahnet karan da" (I don't have time to do all that). So you are back to da'al, bangan etc. :)
Like a few others mentioned, we usually have one 'salan' with roti OR chawal. The only way there will be two 'salans' if there are guests over or leftovers! hehe
I would suggest that you keep it balanced. Meat is good but usually in the west we don't burn as much energy as we would in Pakistan. So a more concentration of veggies & especially green veggies is necessary. I have made it clear to my family that I will eat meat only twice a week. Once over the weekend & once during the weekdays (usually Wednesday as its in the middle of the week).
My Mom always has the same problem too! all of us kids go to school/uni/work very early on and she is always thinking all day long: "ke kia pakaoon?"
often she gets tired of this question and asks us in the evening what to make the next day! because as she says: "aap log kal subah subah chale jaate hain, aur mein phir saara din sochti rehti hoon" :D
nowadays we have an extra problem: my ammi being in pakistan, the rest of us have to brainstorm every evening what to make the next day...
Being chief menu planner in this house I'll tell you how I go about it.
During the week evening meals are cooked fresh and midday meals are leftovers or something very light and simple.
For other meals I base myself on the following ingredients (usually you can adapt this to all types of cooking):
Starch: usually rotis or rice. Only when we have visitors we have both. And often spaghetti, macaroni etc.
Protein: meat, chicken, fish, eggs or paneer, and often dal in some form
Vegs: one raw vegetale or mixed salad, one cooked veg.
Fruit for dessert or between meals.
Sometimes I will miss out the starch or the protein. Like grilled salmon fillets (you can choose from a variety of masalas), roast red peppers (sweet ones) and cucumber and carrot sticks.
Sometimes I combine the categories - e.g. rotis with matar keema and a salad.
Or spaghetti with a mushroom sauce, plus salad with some feta cheese.
I rarely fry food, and the quantity I use for baghar is minimal (often I dry-roast spices). Instead, Italian style I use cold pressed extra virgin olive oil to dress salad.
** who–me:** pizza is good too :)..and i don’t mind a single dish policy for myself..can’t do that at my place coz everyone got different food preferences.
** Aleezay: ** i can so relate that..even my ammi say all the same stuff..even the same words
** Sehar: ** we used to have roti all the time and rice occasionally..but my youngest brother likes rice..so now we cook all different foods..and let the person pick what they like..i have to admit that i don’t eat much yogurt..so i gotta add that..i only have yogurt when its raita or cucumber yogurt
** Sandleen: ** awww..i can relate that as well..i had been in your spot..what i used to do..i used to make a list..used to collect recipes..made prep at once..and on my day off or at night i used to cook several dishes in one go..and it used to last for few days for me and my brother..when rest of my family was away to visit backhome
** hinna: ** interesting to learn that all of you folks cook..my mom is one of those people who likes to cook everyday..coz according to her that keeps her busy after work…and she makes samosas and kababs on weekend and does freeze them..and we do eat multicultural foods too all the time..but somehow even after those my brothers and dad feel hungry at night coz for them international food is like appetizers i guess..so mom always cooks roti..
** ahmadjee: ** thanks for your reply..hehehe..i do understand that much punjabi..with my family we don’t eat beef or mutton..we only eat those if its some dawat..well, me and ammi do eat vegetables all the time..but some people in my family..if you ask them to eat vegetables..they say ke hamain ghas phos nahin khani..those people got an active lifestyle..
** nescio: ** aww..what you can do is visit a desi cook book/website and make a list..it will help you folks in a way..coz then you don’t have to do brainstorm for long
** Shirin: ** that was very helpful
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What i did yesterday..i went through lot of websites and made a list of foods..that my family will not mind..and then i divided days like one chicken day, one fish day, one international food day, one day for rice dishes, one day for qeema (chicken) dish, one day for vegetables/lentils/one day open for farmaish..etc. The plan has yet to be implemented very soon..but the opposition that i heard was for the day where lentils, vegetables will be cooked (basically from guys)..will see how things go
