Dinner last night was a larger than anticipated Diwali dinner (I think there were 65 people at the start, but only about 40 sat down to dinner).
No pics, but the menu was:
Apps:
– Punjabi samosas (excellent, correctly flavored and well-spiced)
– Khaman dhokla (savory steamed gram flour cakes)
– Crunchy drinks accompaniments: bhakarvadi, mixture, corn chivda, spicy sev
Mains:
– Palak paneer (quite good)
– Paneer makhani (I found the sauce too sour, but others liked it)
– Lamb rogan josh (ditto, and the incongruous addition of cream)
– Dal fry (homemade)
– Jeera rice (homemade)
– Boondi raita (homemade)
– Naan
Desserts: there were a LOT of desserts!
– Rasmalai (homemade)
– Flan (homemade by a friend)
– Sticky rice with mango (homemade by a friend)
– Assorted fruit
– Assorted pistachio baklava
– Chocolate ganache cake
– Chocolate cream cake
– Assorted non-Baklava middle eastern sweets
– Assorted Indian sweets: laddoos and barfis
– More that I don’t remember
There was WAY too much food, and ALL the extra went home with the guests, because we have a birthday dinner tonight and family Diwali dinner tomorrow. The only things we ran out of were samosas and rice, some of the kids doubled up on the former, and some people surprisingly seemed to like the latter more than the naan.
(Good thing someone had the foresight to order takeout containers – same someone who ordered 2x the quantity of food needed 
)
