Party #3 Indian dinner

Party # 3

Feb 21, 2010
Club members count: 105
Nationalities count:  32

When I just came to Fontainebleau Prashant, one of my housemates, proposed to prepare an Indian dinner in the culinary club. He comes from India, but has lived in US for the last several years. We arrived at implementation of his idea last week.

The Indian population in INSEAD is the strongest one: over 40 Indians in my intake. Many of them have come with their partners. We were lucky to have many of them cooking for the event.

Wednesday, Feb 17. Prashant, Anuj and I in the campus bar. This is the start of menu planning. I hear many Indian words which I don’t know and which probably stand for some Indian dishes… Guys decide on several starters, several main courses, several deserts – we expect to have a lot of guests. Indian food seems to be very popular in INSEAD community. The team of cookers has finally grown to over 7 people. They were crazy coordinating: who has this spice here? Who is going to an Indian store in the neighbor town? Prashant has even brought something from San Francisco…

Sunday, Feb 21, 8 am. We are going to the supermarket and buy up the whole stock of Naan.

Prashant ended up cooking the whole day. We were afraid to have the lack of food: more than 25 guests were coming

Peas pulao (rice with green peas). We need to compensate for the lack of Indian bread J

Dal Makhani (black lentils with kidney beans, spices and creme) – tastes spicy but mild at the same time!

Veggie Uthappam (spicy pancakes with vegetables) for the start

By the evening the cooks start to gather in the kitchens of our house.

Monisha brings the Cholay (chickpeas in flavorful curry souse) with her and cooks a delicious starter:  Bhel puri (fresh and crispy salad made of puffed rice with potatoes and a tangy tamarind sauce). She mixes it right before serving; otherwise it will lose its crisp.

Anuj brings Chicken Tikka (spicy chicken, marinated and baked)

Mansi cooks the Butter chicken (chicken marinated in yoghurt and spices: garam masala, ginger, pepper, coriander, cumin, turmeric etc, baked and served hot in tasty butter souse)

And serves Raitha (Yogurt with cucumber and spices) – a great fresh starter

Priya cooks Mutter Mushroom (peas & mushrooms in cashew gravy). It tastes unbelievable. Cashews create the sweet and buttery taste.

Abhilekha brings Mutter Paneer (Peas cooked in the souse made of Paneer cheese, tomatoes and spices)

Guests coming…  and rushing to the table. One doesn’t know where to look first. So many tastes... Most of them are very exotic for the majority of guests. When everyone calms down a bit, the cooks tell us about the food we are eating: it is impossible to remember for me, so I write it down J

Now the most interesting part of the party begins:  desert!

Monica has prepared the carrot halwa. A very traditional desert made of grated carrot slowly boiled in milk, butter and sugar. Requires a lot of standing near the pot and stirring. Served warm with vanilla ice-cream. Ice-cream is the modern addition, Monisha advises to try the halva firs without it, to get a sense of traditional taste. Soft, sweet and buttery. Hard to stop eating…

Aditi brings the Jilebi (Saffron candy). They disappear instantly. First come first served…

Pyasam by Monisha. Vermicelli boiled in sweet milk. It is surprising, but we eat a similar dish for breakfast in Russia…

And finally the Gulab Jamun (pieces of milk dough in sweet syrup flavored with cardamom seeds), that Prashant has brought canned from San Francisco.

We are relaxed and loud now. Full and cheerful.

It is night. The guests went home. We are done with the dishwashing and removing the mess. Prashant and I are sitting in the kitchen: damned tired we still can’t believe that it finally worked! :)

See more photos below: