Potluck Iftar or DIY Iftar

Lifestyle Parenting, Household Affairs and Cuisine corner
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Ramadan Kareem people

Okay so here is the thing. Me & hubby jee decided to do a potluck Iftar for immediate friends over the weekend. Reason for doing a potluck was that everyone can gather together yet the women ( who almost all of them have a child one or under) won’t have to slave in the kitchen & it would be just one get together during Ramadan & we will decide about Eid later. Also although Ibtehal is MashaAllah 16 months old now. Postpartum recovery has been long & hubby jee was not comfortable with me doing too much cooking & all.

As it turns out now all of a sudden we have gotten 2 iftar dawats from the same circle of friends & I have a feeling we’ll get more. Now as a hostess I feel bad that we are doing a potluck & expecting others to bring something where as all the other ladies are just doing everything by themselves.

As soon as hubby jee gets home I am gonna talk to him & see if we can just slip the potluck part & do everything ourselves.

What I need help in deciding is the final menu & also would it be weird if I tell everyone now not to bring anything. Iftar is on Sunday.

For Potluck this is what we had decided

Dahi Baray (friend)

Chana Chat & Samosay (friend)

Chicken sheesh Kabab for dinner (friend)

I would have made the following

Chicken Toasts

Chicken Puff Pastries

Egg salad sandwiches

Fruit kababs or Fruit platter

Watermelon sherbet & dates

For Dinner Chicken Pulao

Balti Gosht

Naan

Cucumber & tomato Raita

Soda pop

If I do everything myself then this is what I am thinking

For Iftar

Chicken Toasts

Chicken Puff Pastries

Chicken Samosas & bite size Aloo Samosas

Egg salad sandwiches

Chana Papri Chaat

Dahi Phulkiyan (namkeen)

Fruit Kababs or Fruit platter

Watermelon sherbet & dates

For Dinner

Chicken Pulao

Balti Gosht

Dum ka Qeema (only because I just realized that I don’t have enough meat for balti Gosht & I am not willing to send hubby jee drive 40 minutes to get meat where as we already did that on Sunday. Initially I was making Nehari instead of Balti Gosht but decided against it)

Sheermal/Naan

Hara Raita

Soda Pop

Anything that I should skip or add to this?

Some response would be greatly appreciated.

Also are egg sandwiches to cheap of a snack to keep. Because as my Ami said “egg sandwiches kaun khata hai Iftar may” I know she has high standards when it comes to feeding guests. She goes all out & does a lot of “mehnat”. I don’t have that sort of energy or will in me.

Adios!

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Re: Potluck Iftar or DIY Iftar

That is ALOT of food!!!!

can I come? :)

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Re: Potluck Iftar or DIY Iftar

Sara you are more than welcome :)

If we were living in the same cities. We could have done an iftar together . It would have been fun.

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In all seriousness, if this is a lack of energy/will, I want to see what an “all out” menu is…so many items..although I like variety, I know when I fast I’m not able to eat too much or else I’ll feel really sick afterwards…I would cut it down to a few..like for iftari I’d have:the puff pastries, bite sized veggie samosas, papri chaat, and fruit platter/fruit kababs and of course dates. and for dinner, pulao with raita and salad is fine…I would make only one salan, gosht or keema and serve that with naan…and of course, water/soda etc.

PS Is this chicken toast?
http://www.pakladies.com/chicken-on-toast/

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Gosh that is a lot of food..!!...
And that is a lot of cooking with a 16 month old.I have a 16 month old and it becoems hard at times to do any extra work in the kitchen.
I have always felt that fewer items in iftaar and then dinner are better than having a lot.
For iftaar,keep only one from egg sandwiches and chicken toast.You can do chicken puff pastry and veggie samosa and not have the chicken samosa...
Your dinner menu sounds fine...especially when you say that you wont have enough meat to make balti gosht...maybe I would have made chick peas pulao or mattar pulao to balance it out...I mean there will be chicken salan and chicken snacks for iftaar...
:)

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You're so sweet.:) seriously, don't do it all by yourself. It's really not difficult to bring a dish Plus potlucks are fun!

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That's a lot of food!

I wouldn't worry about changing from a potluck to a DIY, you were doing the majority of the cooking/prep anyway. However if you do want to go DIY I'd drop the egg sandwiches and chicken samosas, and go with either chicken puffs or chicken toast.

I'd also do a veg rice (peas,chick peas or mixed mixed veg) instead of a chicken pilau as you have plenty of meat on the menu.

Good luck.

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Re: Potluck Iftar or DIY Iftar

Sara this whole Ramadan I have not once did the whole Iftari “ehtamam” thing. We eat dates & dinner straight. Sometimes I’ll just do one snack item & dinner. We only have different variety of drinks everyday but since there is people coming I figured every one has a taste of their own so hey do all the things now.

What about the canceling the potluck part? Do you think its odd if I call everyone today & ask not to bring anything?

The Chicken Toast I am talking about are these. They are actually called Chinese Chicken Toast & the main ingredients are chicken & egg.

Tell me about it. Aren’t these kids all over the place :smiley:

I’ll skip the egg sandwiches & the chicken samosas. The saalans are basically meat & beef so I thought Chicken Pulao can balance it for the chicken eaters. All people that are coming prefer white meat over red meat hence the choice of making more chicken items.

Also what do you think about canceling the potluck part? Hubby has left it on me & I have never been so confused while having people over.

CA how are you? You are too nice for thinking I am sweet :slight_smile: I know right. That was the whole point a fun gathering with not too much hard work involved. So you think I should stick to the potluck & it won’t look like I am making others bring things now where as they are doing their affairs fully by themselves?

Thank you tigerlily. As I mentioned above people that are coming over are mostly white meat eaters. I was initially thinking of making Chana Pulao for the rice part but then my mom told me that if by any chance people don’t end up eating it, finishing it off would be much harder the next day or 2 compared to a rice dish with meat in it.

Also I forgot to mention that I’ll be making sweet vermicelli bite size squares for meetha. They are light & just right for a little change of taste.

So either way I’ll skip the Chicken samosas & egg sandwiches for sure. Still confused about the potluck part.

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Talk about opening the thread while fasting. I have used so many words that don't even make sense.

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:wub: i want to be your guest.

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^ Sure :) Houston is only 1000 miles away not much.

Hopefully InshaAllah InshaAllah by next Ramadan we might be settled in Houston anyways.

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NO fair man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanna come!

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i'd say thats way too much food but you know your social circle well. I would tend to make a couple of things for iftar and stick to minimum dinner items.

For the potluck, you were doing the main cooking anyways. How abt calling those 3/4 friends or even just 2 and saying in a by the way sort that i am thinking of doing all the cooking, don't want to burden anyone and see what they say? .. i would say they would be happy either way even if you cancel or dont .. because making 1 dish is easy and potlucks are fun.

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growling growling - Did any one hear that?

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So what did you decide in the end?

Can I have your recipe for "vermicelli bite size squares for meetha."

Thanks

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^ - yes plz post recipe for that and chicken toast bint =)

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Lol Daffyduck & Reha.

Maheen funny enough I did just what you mentioned last evening. I called the three ladies & told them that since I will be cooking most of the things anyways hubby jee has decided to help in the kitchen & I'll make the rest of the stuff as well & they can take a break & enjoy that day :)

So this is what I am making now.

For Iftar

Chicken Toasts

Chicken Puff Pastries

Bite size Aloo Samosas

Chana Papri Chaat

Dahi Phulkiyan (namkeen)

Fruit platter or Fruit Kababs (kababs only if I have enough time)

Watermelon sherbet & dates

For Dinner

Chicken Pulao

Balti Gosht

Dum ka Qeema (because of the less meat issue)

Naan

Hara Raita

Cabbage Yogurt Salad

Soda Pop

Vermicelli bite size squares

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can i come :(

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Re: Potluck Iftar or DIY Iftar

Tigerlily & Maheen here is the recipe for Chinese Chicken Toasts

Chicken Toast

1/2 cup oil for frying
1lb chicken
6 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
6 teaspoons corn flour
salt to taste
Chinese salt to taste
1 teaspoon white pepper powder
1 teaspoon black pepper powder
4 eggs beaten
10 sandwich bread slices

Mix all the ingredients except bread & oil.

Cut bread slices into halves or triangles. Whatever way you prefer & then apply the chicken mixture on the bread pieces.

Stick the slices in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. This helps prevent the chicken mixture from falling off when frying.

Fry the toasts chicken side down on medium low heat till the chicken gets done & then increase the heat & flip the toasts & cook them from the other side.

Serve with chili sauce or hot sauce mixed with ketchup.

These toasts freeze really good.

:D I think I have another entry for food.com now

The vermicelli bites are actually really easy to make. I don't have the exact measurements as of now. When I make them I'll note every thing & update the recipe with proper measurements.

This is what you basically do.

Heat unsalted butter & then add crushed vermicelli in it. Bhoonify it. You have to be really careful. You want the vermicelli cooked but not burned. As soon as it gets done turn of the heat & add a can of condensed milk & mix it well.

Pour the vermicelli in a flat serving dish that has been slightly buttered. Sprinkle some crushed pistachios or almonds & let it set for 1 hour or so & then cut it into bite sized pieces & serve.

This stores well at room temperature for 3 days.

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Sure. If you can :)