I went to an Indian potluck dinner party last night that was a veritable feast!
Exhausting - but so much fun! Everyone had fun cooking and sharing, though in retrospect we should have been slightly more organized - I didn’t need to make dessert because someone else made two (but had not committed to that in advance), and we were probably had one or two extra mains and were short one or two appetizers. Lesson for next time - we all agreed there should be a next time!
Menu:
Apps:
- (ME) Mini potato-ground turkey kababs / “chops”
Mains:
- (ME) Dad’s Chicken with Potatoes
- Banana Leaf-Wrapped Mustard Sea Bass
- Bengali Dal
- Shrimp Malai (coconut) Curry
- Dum Aloo / Potatoes coated in fenugreek and spice paste
- Bengali mixed vegetables
- Tomato chutney
- Rice
Dessert:
- (ME) Rasmalai “Tres Leches” Cake - ricotta cake soaked in saffron & cardamom flavored milk
- Bhapa Doi / Baked Caramelized Yogurt (like a rich crustless cheesecake)
- Sweet Boondi / Chickpea flour pearls fried in ghee and soaked in cardamom syrup
.
.
Day before I ordered takeout in solidarity with a far-away birthday non-celebration (thanks again, pandemic) - birthday girl was having sushi for dinner, so I ordered sushi for lunch and we ate "together over the phone.
I also baked a birthday cake as part of the long-distance “celebration” - Indian-ish mawa (ricotta) cake flavored with cardamom and saffron. One egg yielded two baby bundts. Birthday girl had chocolate ganache cake at her end (which is what I baked for every single family birthday all through the pandemic).
.
.
