Is it necessary to make rice at dawats? I have only been to one dawat where there was no rice just nans and salan and i didnt miss rice at all. It was an all Pakistani gathering. When i invite indian hyderabadis over i always make rice since thats whaty they eat most. But if there is anyone else, you think i can pull it off? You think you would miss it if ther was no rice dish at a dinner party?
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
It is OK , the rice is getting expensive by the minute. Pretty soon jewelry stores will be selling jewelry made of rice , like rice pendant or , rice ka no lakha haar, rice bangles , rice ring.:)
I went in a Bar-b-q party they serve only naan, paratha and all bar-b-q items like seekh kabab, boti kabab and chicken items with salad, raita and dessert and everybody enjoyed that party.
I went in a Bar-b-q party they serve only naan, paratha and all bar-b-q items like seekh kabab, boti kabab and chicken items with salad, raita and dessert and no body miss rice dish.
I love those kind of parties and mostly mine are like that, nobody misses rice . Rice is a filler not a main dish anyway.
It is OK , the rice is getting expensive by the minute. Pretty soon jewelry stores will be selling jewelry made of rice , like rice pendant or , rice ka no lakha haar, rice bangles , rice ring.:)
^ u r right.
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
Hmmmm maybe? i know one reason ppl will eat rice b/c its just easier ot handle with "messy" salans thaN with nan/roti....
The most popular dishes in desi communities are the messiest ones like nihari, paya, qorma etc
May be it is because the people with South Indian background do not consider a meal complete until they can have some rice.
Others in desi communities do not miss much if there is no rice dish on the dinner table.
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
Thanks for the input guys. I think it will be ok not to make rice, i am making the kinda salans you would need naans with, anyways.
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
Btw Mirch the rice jewellery part was hilarious 
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
There used to be a time in Karachi (before 1980s) when in middle class marriges they used to serve biryani or pulao on Nikkah day and qorma on the valima day or vice versa!
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
I'm gonna be the party pooper here and say that in my opnion (experience) one rice dish is a must. Even if it's just plain boiled rice or mattar pulao or whatever. I'm not too big of a ricefan myself but I know of many ppl who would leave the roti/naan and have only rice with saalan.
I know that if I have a dinnerparty at home where I'm making desi food (saalans) I must have both rice and roti/naan. Otherwise people will ask me! (I even boiled rice once when guests had already arrived cuz one of the ladies said 'my kids only eat rice') :D hehehe
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
^lolz I can see tht happening here too ..
Personally I prefer rice, its a lot easier to handle than roti/naan
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
I think it's okay not to serve rice in small gatherings, instead you can serve pasta. You just need to have some dish that's not as messy as roti/salan. Infact, when I invited a friend over last week I served a Chicken Karahi dish, Chapli Kababs, and pasta and she has been raving about my food ever since! :)
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
If you are inviting people with children, then you should make rice. It is easier for moms to feed them rice. Beside if you won't make it, someone will ask for it intentionally.
for every dawut so far i have hosted..i have to make the rice...no matter whatever the dishes r...sometimes at one of my parties i have seen k roti koi haath nai lagata aur sub sirf chawal he kharay hotay hain....rice is easy to handle......easy to chew...etc...
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
Exactly chawal is must...lagta hai chawal kai baghair dawat ho he nahe saktee..but diffrent recips say banatee hoon her dawat mai..
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
Thanks so much guys. I think you all are right, for bigger dawats, rice is a must and so is roti. I have been to a dawat where they didnt serve roti and one of the guests asked them at the very last minute to provide some. I thought they should have told them earlier of their preference (due to medical reasons).
Anyhow, last night i didnt make any rice but i did ask the family in advance. It was an informal type of dinner with just them so i got away with just naans.
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
I can not survive without rice so for me its a MUST dish
Re: rice dish-is it a must?
I went to a mehndi once, it was a very formal and fancy mehndi function, even fancier than some weddings Ive been to, and for the dinner there was no rice served. They had these delicious parathas to eat with the salan dishes like keema and chanay salan and some other stuff. I personally didnt miss the rice at all and enjoyed the meal very much. Mmmm those parathay were so good with the keema salan!
I think it depends on your guests too. Like if I am inviting my friends, I can serve other dishes without rice, nonPakistani dishes. But if I am inviting people who are older, like my relatives and such, then I will serve a rice dish too because I know thats what they are used to and like to have
yes midnighteyes u r quite right...i know that this thing is very common..(even mine had the same thing on mehndi)...to serve poori/paratha with halwa chanay and even once there was this menu alongwith dahi baray,gol gappay,paaan....dat not only looks nice but u also enjoy the lavish food(again without rice)
but mostly at dinners bcz of older people....rice is a must...but again most lavish dishes can't go without rice...like pulao... biryani...again biryani puts u at ease...no worry abt a separate sallun!