An Indian Feast

I had the pleasure of planning and cooking an Indian feast for a benefit dinner for a wonderful local foods movement in Champaign called the Flatlander Food Foundry.  I planned on feeding 28 people, 20 of which would be donors and 8 helpers, but ended up only having 22.  It was still lovely.  The food was delicious, and the company gracious.

For the meal, I did copious amounts of research and spent quite a bit of time talking with my 83 year young father who is from Hyderabad, India.  Together we planned the meal to be a taste tour of Bombay and Hyderabad, our family's two landing spots.

For appetizers, on the table when people came in we had samosas and Bombay cashews, both lovely street foods.  For the main course, our primary dish was a chicken biryani, which is a signature dish of Hyderabad--one that you'll be hard pressed to find in the States done well.  It is tremendously time consuming and complicated, but is amazingly subtle in its flavor profile.  To go along side this mild dish we served some very flavorful and HOT dishes.  Included was naan (yes, made on the grill), a saag paneer which included spinach, but also kale and collard greens; murchi ka saalan (which is a mole-like thick curry of chiles, and yes, it's hot!); dahl makhani (a rich, creamy, hot lentil dish); tomato chutney; and to cool things off, a raita.  For dessert we served kheer, which is like an Indian rice pudding.

Overall, the meal was amazing.  Honestly, it took several days to make. On Thursday, I had 9 people helping me and we made all of the spice mixes, the ghee (clarified brown butter), and the yogurt.  I also cooked by myself Friday night for about 5 hours, and again on Saturday morning for another 4.  I had 5 wonderful helpers for 7 hours during the afternoon before the function.  This is not the kind of feast I would be able to put on by myself, but it was a wonderful exploration of my own culture and brought back wonderful memories of cooking with my father.

I will be adding individual recipes to the blog over the course of the next several days.  Though these dishes are complicated, they are delicious. I have made sure the recipes are translated correctly and are accurate to the traditions of India.  I hope you enjoy!