Catering: Indian Thali Banquet

I’ve loved Indian food for ages but had never heard of a thali plate until I lived there. At first I was delighted! I thought it was an Indian version of tapas and I could choose all my favourite dishes.

Unfortunately it doesn’t work like that and all the thali plates I tried were a disappointment. The offerings were fixed, my favourite dishes never appeared, and watery dahls were plentiful.

So as a gift for a friend’s 50th, who also loves Indian food, I served a thali banquet. My plate featured the most popular Indian dishes, with everything made from scratch (except the pappadams) including the ghee, paneer and paratha. It may not have been an authentic combination of dishes, but hey, I’m not Indian.

Aside from delicious food, there’s another benefit.

While it’s a load of work upfront, everything is served at once, so when the plate goes on the table with all courses together, there is no more cooking to be done.

For this banquet I served:
Condiments: onion salad, tomato salad, green chutney, raita, lemon and salt

Starters: papadams, aloo tikkiVeg mains: dahl makhni, mushroom masala, creamy cauliflower, butter paneer

Non-veg mains: chicken tikka masala, beef kofta curry

Accompaniments: paratha, basmati rice

Desserts: apple keer, mango lassi, coconut ladoo