Ivy and Elephants: Indian Antiques

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Summer Indian Cuisine

Our friend Anita over at Cedar Hill Ranch is giving away a gorgeous hand-painted coffee/tea set.

Go by and visit her wonderful blog.

We are partying with Sherry over at No Minimalist Here. I am bringing to the party some of my most favorite Indian dishes. Please come join me.

One of my favorite cuisines is Indian cuisine. The smells, flavors, colors, textures, and of course tastes reminds me of an exotic summer. I find the use of various fresh spices, herbs, vegetables, and sometimes fruits to be absolutely intriguing. I usually cook Indian dishes on the weekends for my husband because I have more time to dedicate to such intricate dishes. However, every summer the entire family, asks me to put on a major spread of all of our favorite Indian dishes.

I set these dishes out in preparation for the homemade chutneys I created.

Mango Chutney

Mint Chutney

Ginger Chutney

The dishes are set out on a beautiful coverlet made from vintage saris. In between the dishes is one of my favorite finds from an import antique store. I just love his turban.

India is also known for its assortment of rich colorful textiles. I use them to adorn many a tablescape. In addition to the beautifully embroidered coverlet, I add vintage artifacts that I have collected through the years. I love to collect vintage Indian marionette dolls. They are usually a couple. One trick that I use in the tablescape is to vary the height of objects to add more interest. I grabbed a few books from the bookshelf and placed them under the cloth and voila!

Now the bowls and plates are ready to receive the delicious food.

Thanks to Amazon for supplying me with a variety of wonderful cookbooks, I was able to prepare these family favs. The majority of the recipes come from the book Complete Indian Cooking.

So pray tell what did I actually prepare you ask? Well this is what my family asks to be on the menu for the big summer family feast. I only do this once a year because everything is cooked from scratch and requires only the freshest ingredients. It takes me all day to prepare the following dishes:

Naan (Flat bread)

Chicken Makhani (Butter Chicken - My absolute fav)

Cachumber (Cucumber Salad)

Corn

Bastmati Rice

Bhindi (Spicy Okra)

Beef Buffad (Beef in Coconut Milk)

Beef Kofta (Spicy Meatball in Yogurt Sauce)

Shrimp Curry

Cake from the Bakery (of course)

Now you see why I only do this spread but once a year. It takes a year to digest all that great food. :-) I hope you enjoyed our favorite summer spread.