Planning a Desi Birthday Party Menu

My son turned 2 on new years' eve. The whole city celeberated his birthday with fireworks! Its the most festive day of the year for us. A day on which we try to count the countless blessings we have.

Last year I did a Small elmo themed party, just for baby and us. This year however, I managed to pull off a slightly bigger and busier party. Honk Honk! beep Beep!

Before you read any further let me just make a note. Birthday parties in our part of the world are not a similar affair as of those celeberated by people in the west. Although there is no denying that the whole concept of the celeberation, cake cutting etc is adopted enirely from the West..but the actual party layout is modyfied completely to suit the desi needs.

1. FOOD is the main attraction of the party, decorations, games everything is secondary.
2. It is more of a dinner invitation for adult uncles and aunties and less of an entertaining program for kids. If you fail to please the adults, your party is as useless as a pricked balloon !

I had been hunting blogs ( nearly all of them Western) for party ideas and I realized the stark difference in the needs of guests...a platter of fresh fruits, a couple of finger food and thats it! I am sure different lifestyles call for different party planning. Incoorporating pretty decorations with desi food can be a very tricky thing. I was looking for a balance between the two. Take a look:

Menu for approx 35 adults, 20 Kids + take aways!

Birthday Cake

Appetizer

• 12l Chicken Corn Soup
• Garlic Bread
• Mini Vegetable Rolls
• Croutons
• Bread Sticks
• Soup Condiments

Snacks/ Dinner Replacement Dishes

• Hunters Beef and Vegie Platter
• 2 Legs of Lamb
• Steamed Chicken
• 65 Sweet n Sour Chicken Meat Balls
• Chicken Pasta
• 50 Large Potato Samosa
• 80 Egg Sandwitches
• 75 Doughtnuts
• Dahi Bhara
• Chicken Nuggets
• Potato Chips

Salads
2 Bean Salad
Coleslaw

Condiments
Plum Chutney
Mint-Corriander Chutney
Tamarind Chutney

Drinks

• Juice
• Soft Drinks

Tea

Kashmiri Chai with Almonds/ Pistaschios

                                                                        Bean Salad

                                            Ultimate tastebud pleaser....the dried Plum Chutney!

                                                Pot of Chicken Corn Soup..zou could take a dive in it!

                                                                Mini Vegetable Rolls

                                                            Apple&Orange Juice

                                            Soya Sauce, Chilli in Viniger and Hot Sauce

                                                                  The Soup

                            Chicken Meat Balls in Sweet n Sour Sauce with Pinapple Chunks

                            Coleslaw> Carrots, Cucumber, Apple, Olives and salad dressing

                                                                    Doughniuts!

                                                                    Samosay

                                                              Egg Sanwitches


I hope this post helps you wheather you are a desi or not. I wanted to put down the menu in a post because when I was searching for one that suits me I did not come across anything!