Plated Indian Dinner

joeandsoumia

Hello,

We are having an "average" size Indian wedding, and would like to have Indian food for the reception. I don't know if any one of you guys faced this issue, but I really don't want to have buffet at the wedding because with that many people I just think it will end up looking like a circus. So my question is has anyone thinking about having the “plated or family style dinner option", if so what are the menu items that could be included in the dinner

DFWIndian

I'm of no help, but I would say I've never seen a plated Indian dinner.

Just think of what you would put on a normal buffet plate and do it that way.

SonaliPop

In London, they do quite a bit of family style, which I love. Everything is on stands, everything is warmed to perfection, and the people at each table engage with eachother more. It's very warm and gives you that rustic, family feel that you want at a reception. I have never seen a plated Indian dinner and I can see how it would be difficult to do in terms of choice. We are picky as Indian diners - we all like tart, tangy, spicy, sweet, ...we want it all. Would you go with one veg option and 2 meat options?

What are your choices for plated?

MrsBM

I would suggest going with a family style instead of plated.

Family style still keeps the food warm.  If they plate it in the kitchen it won't be piping hot when it gets to the guests (indian food is best served very warm so I think that is why it is almost always on a buffet line)

I think family style is a nice change to the tradition and very modern!

Rainbow17

I would really like to do family style, but I don't think theres enough room on the table considering there will also be centerpieces, candles, and charger plates.

I would think you'd have to have:

-salad
-naan
-rice
-daal
-2/3 veggies
-2/3 meats

dont forget all the chutneys and garsishes.

Do you think all of that would fit while not taking away from the decor of the table?

joeandsoumia

Thaks ladies for all the commets, I might do the family style wedding. what are yall planning to do?

andamu

Could you do a thali?

First, I would do passed appetizers and a plated salad.

My thali would look something like this (bear in mind, I only eat vegetarian Indian food):

• Shaak #1: Paneer dish (ex. palak paneer)
• Shaak #2: Potato/veg dish (ex. vegetable tawa)
• Shaak #3: Malai kofta
• Papad
• Daal
• Chutneys/pickles
• Naan (this could be in a basket on the table, as could the papad)
• Rice
• Raita
• Sweet (ex. gulab jamun)

temurlang

We did family style (not Indian food) and it worked out really well.  Definitely helps keep people seated lol.  We had 10 courses, and we did have to keep our centerpieces on a smaller scale and have only one votive per table, but there was space and it looked nice.  I think it will probably depend on what the caterer can/will do.  If you do a plated dinner, you have to have guests pick an option and keep track of their choices.

joeandsoumia

Thali is a new idea, I LOVE the family style planning. 
@termulang, can you tell me what were the items you had on the family style dinner.

temurlang

Well, we didn't have Indian food, so it won't help you from that point of view, but this was our menu:

http://tamberlaine.weebly.com/menu.html

The main thing to keep in mind is balance.    We had a really diverse crowd, so we made sure to have some veg, and at least one of each meat.  Our venue/caterer worked with us on this too, so we would have enough options.  We also had two passed hors d'oeuvres, one seafood and one veg.  As long as your caterer will do it, I see no reason you couldn't do this with Indian food.  Something like Andamu or Nina described:  start with daal, sabzi, depending how many vegetarians maybe one chicken, one paneer, rice, and naan.  Then think of your crowd.  Maybe you want more veg. options or a lamb dish or pilau or biryani.  For passed hors d'oeuvres you could do any small stuff like pakora or aloo tiikki and keep papad and chutneys on the tables.

ssarangi

I also didn't want to have a buffet when I first started planning, and hated the idea of one, but as I started going through the process, I realized why it is so common to have a buffet dinner @ Indian weddings.  It makes things a lot easier when you consider the amount of people to be served, not enough room on the tables, so many menu options, keeping the food warm, guests who don't know e/o having to ask neighbors to pass the food, etc.. 

You can keep your buffet tame by having multiple buffet lines served on both sides and if possible, have the buffet tables outside of the hall, thus less smell and visibility of food servers refilling chafing dishes

AquarianDragon

At FI's cousin's wedding they had the Indian food done family style. At the other two cousin weddings we went to, it was buffet.

Our biggest gripe about family style at the wedding was there were two dining options, veg Indian, non-veg Mediterranean and we wanted to chose both, veg Indian for FI and non-veg Med for me with the idea we'd share, thus get both. The problem was if you expected to sit with your partner/family, everyone had to either get Indian or Mediterranean. So, we had to pick Indian because there's no guarantee the meat options would be things FI would eat.

The second issue about family style, which was more of an issue for FI, was running out of the dishes FI eats and the feeling that you can't take more of what you like and leave what you don't. I think out of 4 dishes, he ate two, and barely had either.

We're having buffet.

kpwedkk

Chiming in with everyone

I went with Plasticthaali.com 9 compartment plates that are made out of recyclable plastic... for our lunch buffet... which included 7 curries, naan, puri, dalpuri, salad, and several desserts, and the compartments were great for that!

For dinner, we got gold rimmed plates, bowls, cups, etc, and had a second buffet mixed with Chinese, Italian, and Indian food, and Salad so that folks could pick and choose what they wanted. 

I did go to a wedding in Vancouver where it was completely plated, but you only had a selection of one meal, and to tell you the truth, I liked some of the other plates that some folks had picked!

There are definitely pros and cons with each set up that you do :-)