Table of content

  • Tips while planning a dinner party-
  • How to put a menu together
  • Appetizers:
  • Drinks:
  • Main course:
  • Desserts

Tips while planning the dinner party-

1.Determine the exact headcount.

2.Beforehand, inquire about any dietary restrictions or allergies.

3.Select recipes that you feel confident creating.

4.Begin making plans at least one week beforehand.

5.Shop three days ahead of time.

6.Prepare and clean the vegetables one to two days in advance.

7.Select a dessert that can be ready in a day or two in advance, if possible.

8. You can prepare dal/lentils or a few curries the day before.

9.Try not to worry over the smallest details.

10.Accept aid if it is offered.

11.To reduce tension, order a few meals from a restaurant or prepare recipes that are only partially homemade.

12.To make some of these recipes quickly, use an instant pot or pressure cooker made in India.

How to put a menu together –

Drinks, appetizers, a main meal, and a dessert are usually fit for a dinner party. Corriander Leaf suggest some Indian dinner menu for party:

  • Drinks: You can offer store-bought juices and soft drinks in addition to homemade drinks like lassi, punch, or lemonade.
  • Appetizers: 2 to 3 appetizers. We enjoy serving one or two salads and one or two pre-mixed chaats as an appetizer. However, ordering the appetizers, using a pre-made dhokla mix, or baking Costco puffs, spring rolls, and other items are all options.
  • Main course: The main course consists of rice, roti, sabzi, dal, and various curries.
  • Curries/Sabzi – Typically choose one paneer dish (everyone’s favorite) and one veggie dish from the curries or sabzi.
  • Dal/Lentils – You can offer dal, sambar, rasam, or kadhi with lentils.
  • Roti – Typically get roti or naan. Naan comes in huge quantities from Costco and may be heated in a tawa.
  • Rice – Serve plain rice, jeera rice, pulao, or biryani with your rice.
  • Desserts – 1-2 desserts. One often chooses a dish that is straightforward and popular with both adults and children. Additionally, you can offer cake, brownies, or ice cream.

Indian dinner menu for party by course:

Appetizers:

1. Poha vada

Traditionally, lentil, onion, and spices are useful in making vada. However the most popular Indian dishes vada types include toor dal, green moong, and chana dal masala. Vada is a street food snack and a particularly well-known festival recipe. The vada dish for today is a fast variation in which poha replaces the lentil. Hence after five minutes of soaking, the poha is drained of excess water, and the remaining ingredients are added. A quick snack recipe that takes about 20 minutes to prepare. Coriander Leaf also serves Poha Vada in the breakfast menu.

It’s a fantastic Indian dinner menu for party recipes to prepare when you have unexpected visitors.

THESE ARE POHA VADA:

  • Both the outside and the inside are soft.
  • Made in about 20 minutes, 
  • This evening snack is ideal.

2. Soya chunks manchurian dry

Meal maker manchurian, also known as soya chunks dry manchurian, is prepared in two steps.

The cooked soya pieces are coated in a corn flour mixture and deep-fried till crisp in the first step.

However a sauce consisting of onion, ginger, garlic, chili sauces, ketchup, soy sauce, and vinegar is helpful in the second stage. Then you can mix the sauce with the soya chunks.

However a mouthwatering appetizer is created by combining the sweet, sour, spicy, and tangy tomato-based sauce with the crispy soya chunks. Indian-Chinese cuisine is quite popular across the Indian subcontinent. Indians love these dishes because they are prepared using Chinese culinary methods that have been tweaked to suit Indian palates.

3. Punugulu

A deep-fried delicacy called punugulu, sometimes known as punukulu, is produced with leftover dosa batter. In Coastal Andhra, it is a particularly well-liked evening snack. It’s an excellent way to use up leftover dosa batter.

However this is a deep-fried treat that goes well with hot coffee or tea. Hence make Gunta Ponganalu with it if you want a healthier version of this snack.

4. Masala smashed potaoes

Your favorite way to eat potatoes will soon be these masala mashed potatoes cooked with Indian spices. So use this delightful, creamy cilantro-jalapeno chutney to pair with these potatoes.

Boiled potatoes are mashed, covered with oil and masala (a unique spice mixture), then baked until the outside is crispy and the interior is mushy.

Chaat masala, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, cumin, coriander, and red chili powder are all ingredients in the specific masala powder.

When paired with the cilantro jalapeno chutney, these mashed potatoes are quite irresistible. makes a wonderful appetizer that your family and guests will adore.

5. Chana chaat

Chaat or Chat is an Indian savory food that is meant to be licked. Fresh or cooked vegetables, puffed rice, puris, or bhel mix can all be used to make them. Hence their rich flavors, which include sweet, acidic, salty, spicy, and crunchy tastes, are often available in roadside kiosks.

Indians like chaat and can never refuse to eat this traditional dish. We eagerly anticipate making chaat for a snack or dinner when the weather warms up.

6. Masala corn toast

In India, toast with cheese and vegetables on top is very common. A variety of vegetable combinations are spiced, topped with cheese, then toast till crisp. 

Both children and adults enjoy them because they are delicious. What could possibly be disliked about toasted bread topped with cheese and spices?

7. Boiled peanut chaat

Chaat or Chat is an Indian savory food that is meant to be licked. However every bite of these complex foods, which are often sold in roadside booths, gives you a taste of something sweet, sour, salty, or spicy.

Chaats are a staple of Indian cuisine, and there are numerous ways to prepare them. We use cooked peanuts in place of the bel mix in this peanut chaat, which is quite similar to Bhel Puri.

Store bought appetizers:

  • Deep Samosa
  • Pakora
  • Patra or Muthia

You get the recipes of all the appetizers in previous blogs of Corriander Leaf.

Drinks:

Homemade:

1. Mango lassi

Fresh mangoes, yogurt, milk, cardamom, and sugar are the ingredients of mango lassi. Today everyone is using soft dates in place of sugar.

Dates are incredibly nourishing and naturally sweetened without the use of additional sugar. My go-to item to sweeten lassi or a smoothie is a date.

Mango lassi is a drink that you can always find on the menu of an Indian restaurant. The majority of the mango pulp used in restaurants is canned.

2. Virgin pina colada

Virgin pina coladas are produced without alcohol from pineapple, coconut milk, and ice. Kids and adults alike like this delectable, creamy, and refreshing mocktail.

The official drink in Puerto Rico is the pina colada, a highly well-known beverage that originated there. Typically it consists of rum, pineapple, and coconut milk. We only use pineapple and coconut milk in the virgin pina colada instead of rum. The virgin pina colada is equally as tasty as the traditional version.

3. Badam milk with almond flavor

One of the most popular Indian dishes or beverages is called “Badam Milk,” which is made with milk, almonds, and sugar and flavored with kesar (saffron) and cardamom. Badam milk is traditionally created by soaking entire almonds. Badam Milk is a sweet almond milk that has been spiced with almonds, saffron, and cardamom. Extremely pleasant and nourishing, frequently served to children and expectant mothers. but everyone can appreciate it equally. Other names for badam milk include badam pal and badam doodh.

4. Masala chai

Tea, milk, and flavorful spices contribute to making the hot beverage masala chai. A cup of hot, sweet tea is the ideal way to start the day. Chai is the Hindi word for tea, and masala is the spice mixture that brews the tea. Therefore, masala chai. In India, each family and each region has its own method for brewing masala chai. Hence there is only what your taste buds desire; there is no right or incorrect method to make it.

Store bought

  • Soft Drinks
  • Juice

So you can taste heaven in the form of drinks served by Corriander Leaf in a large variety.

Main course

1. Mixed vegetable coconut curry

Indian cuisine is well-known for its curries. The definition of a wet curry is simply a sauce consisting of either yogurt, nuts (cashew or almonds), coconut milk, or lentils, although each region has its unique way of producing these curries. However the recipe we’re sharing today is a variation on a traditional vegetable curry that includes coconut milk. It’s a curry that’s made with a variety of spices and cooked in thick coconut milk. The curry’s flavor and aroma are enhanced by the spices.

2. Cauliflower paneer curry

With paneer, creamy coconut milk, toasty spices, and cauliflower florets, this Cauliflower Paneer Curry is a simple one-pot meal. However this curry can be prepared in the instant pot in just 30 minutes and is jam-packed with flavor. Serve this Indian dish with rice, roti, or naan.

3. Mushroom masala

The tomato-based gravy is a crucial component of this restaurant-style mushroom curry. It has the appropriate amount of spices and is rich and somewhat thick thanks to cashew cream. This Indian mushroom curry is delicious if you like mushrooms.

This vegan and gluten-free mushroom masala is a classic North Indian dish that is famous in many places. It is quick and simple to prepare and is so soothing.

4. Instant pot sambar

Every South Indian has grown up eating sambar, which is pure comfort food. The usual accompaniments include rice, pickles, and papad. Additionally, tiffin foods like Idli, Dosa, and Vada serve best with sambar.

Even though the basic recipe is the same, the taste of sambar varies by location or even household due to the sambar powder and the way of preparation.

5. Instant pot chickpea coconut curry

A great comfort food is this quick pot chickpea coconut curry. Soon, a vegan curry made with staple cupboard ingredients will become your go-to weeknight supper. It is the healthiest form of main course in the Indian dinner menu for a party.

6. Rajma masala

This well-known Punjabi dish is incredibly comforting and ideal for Sunday brunch or a midweek dinner. Make rajma over the weekend to eat on a busy weekday since it tastes much better the next day. Rajma is one of the most popular Indian dishes.

Although this rajma masala is vegan, you are more than welcome to use butter or ghee if you choose. Ghee unquestionably improves the curry’s flavor and taste. Hence it is the best Idea for a main course in an Indian dinner menu for a party.

The recipe calls for freshly ground spices, but a high-quality rajma masala powder works just as well.

7. Soya chunks biryani

Soya chunks, also known as meal makers, are manufactured from defatted soya flour by eliminating the oils. They make a wonderful vegetarian protein substitute since they cook up with a texture that is highly reminiscent of meat.

Desserts

1. Instant kalakand

The traditional Indian dessert known as kalakand. You can prepare it by curdling milk, boiling it with sugar for a long period until it solidifies, and then flavoring it with almonds and cardamom. However it takes time and patience to prepare this kind of delicate, melt-in-your-mouth delicious. The majority of Indian sweets consist of milk; they are delicious but might take a while to prepare.

2. Coconut ladoo

Recipe for coconut ladoo with condensed milk, with step-by-step photos In just 10 minutes, you can make the Indian dessert coconut ladoo. However the two main ingredients in this laddu are sweetened condensed milk and desiccated coconut (dry coconut). On the Indian subcontinent, condensed milk is referred to as milkmaid.

3. Pistachio coconut ladoo

However with the addition of pistachio, this ladoo recipe is quite similar to my Coconut Ladoo with Condensed Milk recipe. One of our favorite ingredients to utilize in Indian desserts is desiccated coconut. Here are a few examples: Carrot Ladoo, Nuts & Coconut Jaggery Ladoo, and Instant Coconut Burfi.

4. Badam katli

During festive holidays like Diwali and Holi, people prepare and share the sweets “badam katli” among friends and family. If we compare it to other burfis, people typically buy this delicious treat from the sweet vendors and it is somewhat expensive.

It’s now much simpler than ever to make badam burfi at home thanks to the readily available almond flour. Although the sugar syrup’s consistency does not have to be exact for badam burfi. There is little doubt that cooking it in an instant pot is simpler.

Enjoy all these appetizers, drinks, main course and desserts at Corriander Leaf.

Visit us with your friends, family and loved ones.