Dear all, pls suggest a menu for an easy to prepare iftaari and dinner.
Please also give some ideas for 2 desserts also.
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
Are you asking for guests...?
The simplest I would do would be some sort of pakoras,dahi bhallay and fruits for iftaar.Plus dates and drinks.
And for dinner a rice dish (vegetable or chana pulao) and a chicken dish (chicken karahi or korma).
Ice cream for dessert.Or maybe cake.
Yes chips we have invited some ppl but with time so less between iftaari and dinner I would like to keep menu easy and light.
Also I can't spend all day in the kitchen with 2 kids so looking for something easy to make
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
iftar: fruit chaat or dhai bhalay , pakoras, date, juice
dinner: veg palou, grill chicken n salad
dessert: if u r not serving fruit chaat in iftar make fruit trifle.
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
^ chips suggested some really good n easy things.
I'd say skip pakora's since they require a lot of time and u just hav to stand in front of karahi for frying till the last minute.
Fruit chaat, dahi balla's(boondi) chaat.
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
or you can fry ready made samosa or rolls for iftari instead of pakoras
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
I would agree with devlish angels suggestion of grilled chicken with rice....................you can also do a chicken roast, marinate it a day before and throw it in the oven for 40 mins to an hour. Since there are few hours between iftaar and sehri, salan becomes overwhelmingly heavy also after all the fried stuff, i think ppl will prefer something light.
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
Iftar:
Dates
Tang or Rooh Hafza (can be made as long as 4 days in advance, just keep it covered in the fridge & stir before serving)
Dahi Baray (make 'em one day in advance)
Puff pastries (you can freeze them way in advance & just pop them in the even 25 minutes before Iftar)
Fresh fruit ( no need to do so much mehnat & make fruit chaat, people will appreciate fresh fruit more)
Dinner:
Pulao (yakhni can be made at least 2 days in advance)
Grilled chicken of some sort (marinate it, freeze it, thaw it the night before & when you serve your iftari, pop it the oven so it comes hot & fresh at dinner time)
Cucumber raita (can be made 2 days in advance, just stir in some milk before serving)
I wouldn't do any salans/curry. There is not a long gap between iftar & dinner anyways. Its gets too heavy & it will be extra work for you.
OR you can completely skip the above mentioned for dinner & make Biryani with Hara Raita & that's it. Let people enjoy one main dish & it will be less work for you.
Dessert
get flan or tres leches from a Mexican bakery/grocery store, it won't cost much, guests will love it & one less item for you to worry about or you could get those frozen Nanak Ras Malai's from a Desi grocery store. Its 8-10 bucks & has 12 servings & tastes good too.
If you wanna make desert at home, another simple dessert is Kulfi. You can make it in way advance. Good luck.
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
you can make bhuna gosht or white chicken...its not masaledar
and zeera rice with it
and for dessert u can make cheesecake....make the crust the day before....
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
My MIL is also callng some guest for iftari so me also thnkng wt do i make? that make simple or diffrent.
iftar :
drink: rooh afza , milk soda,
fruit chat or chana chat, kabab, dahui bhalay, or wt else?
I make chat and kabab at home, dahi bhaly from market.
dinner: raita, biryani hmmm i thnk vege rice, chicken kahrai ya qeema matar???thinkng
dessert: ice cream or trifle.
need more. no need to be more light. as living in lahore and poeple noticed wt varities of food r there? or wt new?
so need more suggestion?
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
Nice milkshakes or fruit juices, throw together a load of veggies for a lush salad, same thing with lots of fruits chopped up and seasoned, no cooking involved , make kebabs but stick them in the oven quick and easy no fry method, puff pastry with any meat filling, mains, chick pea/ mattar rice with one meat/veggie salan
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
Iftar: Dates Tang or Rooh Hafza (can be made as long as 4 days in advance, just keep it covered in the fridge & stir before serving) Dahi Baray (make 'em one day in advance) Puff pastries (you can freeze them way in advance & just pop them in the even 25 minutes before Iftar) Fresh fruit ( no need to do so much mehnat & make fruit chaat, people will appreciate fresh fruit more)
Dinner:
Pulao (yakhni can be made at least 2 days in advance) Grilled chicken of some sort (marinate it, freeze it, thaw it the night before & when you serve your iftari, pop it the oven so it comes hot & fresh at dinner time) Cucumber raita (can be made 2 days in advance, just stir in some milk before serving)
I wouldn't do any salans/curry. There is not a long gap between iftar & dinner anyways. Its gets too heavy & it will be extra work for you.
OR you can completely skip the above mentioned for dinner & make Biryani with Hara Raita & that's it. Let people enjoy one main dish & it will be less work for you.
Dessert
get flan or tres leches from a Mexican bakery/grocery store, it won't cost much, guests will love it & one less item for you to worry about or you could get those frozen Nanak Ras Malai's from a Desi grocery store. Its 8-10 bucks & has 12 servings & tastes good too.
If you wanna make desert at home, another simple dessert is Kulfi. You can make it in way advance. Good luck.
I like the idea of one really good main dish and all of these suggestions.
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
JazakAllah khair all of you for your ideas and even mails :).
This is what I have decided the menu will be inshAllah
Drinks : Rooh Afza and Tang
Iftaari : Dahi phulkiyan, Fruit Chaat (I make it more like a fruit salad, no adding of chaat masala), Kaalay chanay, Samosas (store bought), Rolls (homemade), and chicken shami kebab (with charcoal dum)
Dinner : Sindhi Biryani (Bint-e-Naeem’s recipe, it is my GOTO recipe 
), bhindi and naan
Desserts : Gulab Jamun and Tiramisu. (Both can be prepared in advance inshAllah)
I am not sure if the iftaar menu is good enough, I definitely cannot add pakoras coz they require frying at the last minute otherwise they just don’t taste good.
Can someone tell me how much of each thing I should be making. It is going to be 13 adults and 4 kids under 5 years of age.
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
I like the idea of one really good main dish and all of these suggestions.
Back in the days when we were kids my parents used to do Iftar dawat for 40 people at home plus our local Masjid every single year. A tradition our close friends & family observed as well. I remember they would go all out for Iftar but dinner my mom would always only make Biryani with raita. If she knew a diabetic person was going to be attending too then she would make a little meat salan with naan on the side, enough to feed only that person/people in question. Her logic was after eating so many different things in Iftar, dinner should always be simple so our taste buds enjoy it to the fullest.
Re: Simple iftaari and dinner menu
Automne Iftar menu is perfect. After 1 week into Ramadan most people have already had a lot of Pakoras anyways. It will be a fresh change for them.
For kids if they are all under 5 then count them as one person. You count kids between 8-12 as 1/2 person & 12 & up as adults. I am kind of out of it right now, so not in my calculation mode. Will get back after Iftar.