Have you ever thrown a dinner party and just decided to go wild? I mean, no holds barred, cooking and decorating for days, realize it’s over the top but keep going, all-in kind of wild? Well, if you have, then you’ll be able to relate to a dinner party we threw for a few friends last weekend.
Nowhere is the saying
“you’ll never work a day in your life if you enjoy what you’re doing”
more evident for me than when I’m baking or cooking in the kitchen!
I was inspired to make an Indian feast after learning that one of our invitees was craving Tandoori chicken (funny, considering my last post). It’s always a little challenging cooking Indian food for non-Indians because you never know what someone’s spice threshold is. However, since my mom never really cooked very spicy Indian food at our house, I was pretty safe with the recipes I have managed to wrestle out of her.
The menu, swirling around in my head for days, was created in consultation with three lovely ladies, the guru (my mom), the pro (my lovely cousin Michelle who can prepare a dinner party for thirty in two hours!) and the teacher (Manjula of Manjula’s Kitchen fame, whom I do not know, but think is awesome!).
The final menu consisted of the following:
Amuse Bouche: Spicy Meat Koftas (forgot to photograph …)
Entrée: Dahi Vada (with homemade tamarind chutney) and Samosas
Main Meal: A thali style offering of Shahi Paneer, Mushrooms & Peas, Cholé, Aloo Methi (Fenugreek potatoes) served with Tandoori chicken
Served with: Rice, Raita, Pappadam and Lacha Parathas
Dessert: Mango Lassi, White Chocolate Molten Cupcake with Coconut Ice Cream
Indian tunes and good company added the finishing touches.
No doubt, it was a lot of work, but preparing most of the food the day before made ‘game day’ much more enjoyable. And as for the saying, well, I put in an 8 hour work day preparing all the food and decorating (learning some of the recipes as I went along) and didn’t even notice the time!
sucrésalédeluxe 