Indian Wedding Feast

An Indian Wedding Feast: is a fantastic alternative to Western cuisine, particularly if you are an interfaith couple, one being of Indian heritage. Your religion and the region where you or your family lived will govern your choice of menu. However, it is worth bearing in mind that it was the Punjabi’s renown for running restaurants. And it’s their adaptation of tandoori dishes and heavy mughlai-style curries, which have become recognized as Indian cuisine in the Western world.

The style of Indian cuisine is regional. The dishes should be light. Anything that comes in a sauce, no matter what the spices, is called a curry “turrcarri”. Considering the mix and age of your guests you may either:

- (i) choose a specific menu to your region and religion
- (ii) choose a variety of dishes from different regions and religions
- (iii) choose a mixture of Indian dishes and Western cuisine

Renowned regional cuisines, that you may consider for your Indian wedding feast, are:

- “Malayali” from southern Kerala
- “Malvani” , particularly the seafood, from the coastal region of South Bombay
- “Shindhi” from Pakistan
- “Goan” from Goa, influenced by rich tomato based sauces of Portugal with hot Indian spices. Being on the coast fish is popular.
- “Parsee” food of the Persians who fled to India; they use a lot of lamb in their cooking with dried fruit and Indian spices
- “Gujarali” vegetarian cooking of the Gujaratis in Bombay
- “Jain” cuisine, again vegetarian, but excluding any root vegetables
- “Konkan” cuisine, particularly the seafood, from the West Indian coastline
- “Bengalis” from Bengal, who have a love of fresh water fish (not salt water). Fish is always served at Bengalis weddings.

Two important cuisine facts pertaining to the two major faiths to note are:

- as the Hindus consider the cow to be sacred beef is strictly forbidden to be eaten
- if Muslim nothing derived from the pig may be eaten

So, when selecting your menu you may wish to omit beef and pork from it.

A Traditional Indian Wedding Feast Menu:

A traditional Indian wedding feast will be a very elaborate affair. It will be an extended version of the following basic Indian menu (by extended I mean with a greater variety of choice and richness of the dishes):

- a meat dish and a fish dish
- five or more vegetable dishes (including one rice and one lentil dish)
- several pickles and chutneys
- yoghourt and salad
- a sweet dish

All the dishes would appear on the table at the same time. The diner would serve themselves in their order of preference, selecting the dishes of their choice. Tea and coffee is not usually served. Lassi” is a yoghourt drink that may be served and scented water. You may wish to serve “raita”, a whipped yoghourt punch, “sherbets”, traditional fruit drinks and wine as it is a wedding feast.

Selecting Your Indian Wedding Feast Menu:

It will be essential for you to have a balance between:

- dry and moist
- bland and spicy
- chilled and piping hot
- sweet and sour
- preserved chutney and fresh chutney
- one light dish and one rich
- starch and salad

Putting this into practice this may mean, for example, choosing:

- “chawal”, plain rice balanced with “makhani chawal”, a buttered rice
- “maahn dahl”, bland white lentil dahl balanced with “channeh” aromatic hot chickpeas
- “chappati” plain whole-wheat griddle bread balanced with “missi roti” a spicy legume bread
- “barra kabab massalam” spiced skewered meat on the bone with “myhee mahali” fish with cream and almonds
- “chirga” roasted whole chicken balanced with “tandoori murgh massaleharh” spiced chicken on spit
- “bunjia” spicy vegetables balanced with “navrattan sabzi dum” mixed steamed vegetables
- “baingan bhurta” puree of aubergine/egg plant balanced with “phul-gobi” braised cauliflower
I could go on forever, but will stop here! Your choice will obviously be based upon personal preference.

Indian Wedding Feast Seating and Serving Dishes:

You will need to consider the following options:

- western table & chairs v. woven mats/small carpets, or “takhats”, one inch high wooden platforms & low table
- western serving dishes v. “thal” large serving platter & “thali” smaller serving platter
- western plates v. “katora or katori” individual bowls or banana leaves
- wine glasses v. metal goblets decorated with enamel
- western cutlery v. eating with your hands

Are Hors d’ Oeuvres Served At An Indian Wedding Feast?

Hors d’ Oeuvres, or snacks, in India would usually be eaten at lunchtime, prior to eating a main meal in the evening. However, there are no rules to say you cannot serve hors d’ oeuvres, or a tasting plate, particularly if you are having a wedding with several hundred guests as it may take time to seat them all.

Some Indian snacks may include:

- “talawa”, food that is deep fried, e.g. onion rings, crudities, etc
- “bhelpuri”, equivalent to tapas
- “parki”, rice-flour batter out of which is made a thin pancake
- “puri”, small round whole wheat puffed breads
- “appalams”, poppadoms with chutneys and pickles
- “missi roti”, legume bread
- “samosa”, stuffed pastry cones
- “dosha”, rolled rice pancakes
- “achar ban-sooer”, picked meat
- “khumbi achar”, marinated whole mushrooms
- “anda achar”, pickled eggs

I hope you enjoy putting together your sumptuous Indian wedding feast.




Indian Wedding Feast