Veg lunch menu ideas

Hi

You can serve fruit juice punch/mocktail as welcome drink as it will reduce appetite of guests a bit


Some easy to prepare color options indian Lunch menu -

Yellow - Moong dal tadka/Toor dal tadka

White - Plain rice / Jeera rice / Paneer pulao
Idli
Youghurt rice
Raita

Chutneys - Red chutney (Tomato), white chutney (coconut), green chutney (coriander)

You can get colored fryums and fry for side dish.

Green - Palak paneer
Mint cashew pulao

Potato curry - dry or aloo gobhi.

Appetizers

Aloo Tikki - with imli sauce

Mushroom manchurian / Paneer manchurian.

For dessert you can try

Mango mousse - easy to serve large crowds.
Tri coloured kulfi
Gulab jamun

Since you are preparing for large crowd, don't experiment, stick to tried and tested options.

 

Rajni, for my seemantham/godh bharayi, we ordered veg menu from outside. Not sure exactly where you are ordering food from but we ordered from an Udipi restaurant. They had options like Silver menu (8 verities), gold menu (12 verities) and platinum (15 verities). Depending on the budget, they had items included. Since it was a south Indian restaurant, some of the things were standard like, tamarind rice, curd rice, sambar and some kootu (others you can name it and they will make it). Going by the package was coming to be much cheaper compared to ordering everything separately. See if there are any restaurants out there which do it.

One word of caution, keep the apps light so the focus is still on mains and desserts. If you make the apps too heavy, you will be running into the risk of food wastage when it comes to mains.

Also, since its a large crowd, plan in such a way that you dont need to cook all of this on the day of the birthday.

Coming to apps, here are my suggestions (apart from what previous poster has said) keeping in mind the rainbow theme; Of course, you dont need all of these but you can choose what suits you and the guests.

1. A glass jar filled with Jelly Beans. Buy it in bulk at Costco.

2. Multi-colored rice crisps. You can find this in Walmart/Costco and all other big confectioneries.

3. Bowl of multi-colored marshmellows.

4. Different kinds of paratha's cut in to small bit sized bits (you can go with stuffing like carrot/aloo/beet's etc for different colors).

6. Pre-cooked samosas (its easier rather than making everything from scratch) with different dips like mint/coconut/tomato etc. Buy those moon shaped bowl set (available in costco) and you can put chutneys in a very neat way.

7. Make a cheese platter with cut cubes of cheddar, mozzarella, green olives, black olives, cherry tomatoes on a bed of lettuce.

Hope this helps.

 

I am unable to find the costco link anymore Rajni but here is what I was talking about: Crescent Shaped Dishes: Pottery & Glass | eBay
Its from ebay. Of course, you dont have to spend a fortune on these fine China. It is just to give you an idea; buy similar one's in Dollar store if you want.

 

Thanks Rajni

Do post your menu after it is finalised. All the best for the party. Stick to easy recipes like kesari instead of gulab jamun for dessert.

 

Also check recipes for this..

Rainbow Idli -

How to prepare Colorful Cocktail Idlis | Madhuram's Eggless Cooking

If you get jello flavors, then u can try this

Rainbow layered jello -



craftyc0rn3r: Rainbow Layered Jello

Also search for rainbow drink, you can find lots of recipes.