Today’s Article is going to be a little different from the usual. Instead of a recipe, I am going to get personal and share my family’s ideal dinner for guests. You know how people have a “signature dish” which they use for any and all special occasions? That is the case in my house. No daawat is complete without the presentation of my mom’s signature layered biryani. The biryani can be made from any type of meat, from chicken, to lamb, to beef or veal, many times even minced meat, be it in any form; this dish is guaranteed to make an appearance.
We serve biryani with Kuchar Muchar salad and dehi with hari chatni. That’s a type of salad in which you dice everything into very small cubes, and the chatni is the most basic mint coriander chatni, mixed into fresh yogurt.
This is the basic meal served on most of our special occasions. If there are few guests, then usually, we will stick to this menu. However, if it is a larger party, or a more formal occasion, that necessitates the inclusion of more dishes and side dishes as well as appetizers and refreshments; the story changes.
If we are serving a party of about ten people, we usually start by serving refreshments, including but not limited to; fresh fruit, cakes, biscuits and crisps, with such drinks as tea, coke, limo pani, sakanjween, fresh fruit juice etc. For the most part, refreshments are bought from a bakery or a grocery store and very few items are prepared at home.
If after refreshments, we still have a lot of time remaining until the meal, then, we will serve snacks and appetizers. These include such things as chana chat, dehi baray, salad, various types of homemade kebabs, samosas, pakoras etc.
The next step is the main meal. Along with biryani and it’s sides, we usually include one meat dish and one vegetable dish. (The golden trifecta usually served in all of our guest meals is rice-veg-meat.) The meat dish can be Qourma, Namkeen gosht or any other, the vegetarian dish is of any seasonal vegetable. These are served with kebabs, and roti, as well as naan and and kulchay, bought from the tandoor.
In the end, the meal is concluded by a dessert of some sort, like Ras malai, trifle, kheer, matanjan or sheer khorma. After the meal, the guests are served tea.
I hope you enjoyed learning about our ideal dinner, tell us, do you have a signature dish?
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