After nine days of vrat food, Dussehra lunch is when many families cook with abandon again: onions and garlic return, puris puff in hot ghee, and something rich and sweet ends the meal. This is a menu we like for a family of six. It is North Indian in style, with plenty of room for your own family's favourites.
The menu
- Chole, dark and tangy, finished with a ghee tadka
- Paneer butter masala
- Jeera aloo in ghee
- Puris, fried in ghee
- Jeera rice
- Boondi raita
- Kachumber salad and pickle
- Sooji halwa or kheer
Planning the cooking
Festival cooking goes smoothly when as much as possible is done ahead.
The night before:
- Soak the chickpeas for chole.
- Make kheer, if that is your dessert, and refrigerate.
- Boil potatoes for jeera aloo and store them in the fridge.
- Soak cashews for the paneer gravy.
Morning, three hours before lunch:
- Pressure cook the chickpeas.
- Make the chole masala and simmer the chole. It improves as it sits.
- Make the paneer butter masala gravy; add the paneer only at the end. We shared the method in paneer butter masala made with ghee.
Ninety minutes before:
- Soak rice for jeera rice.
- Make puri dough and rest it.
- Make the raita and salad; refrigerate.
Forty-five minutes before:
- Cook the jeera rice. See jeera rice in ghee.
- Make the jeera aloo.
- Make sooji halwa if serving it warm.
Just before serving:
- Add paneer to the gravy and warm it.
- Finish the chole with a fresh ghee tadka.
- Fry puris in batches and serve them straight from the kadai.
Quick jeera aloo
Heat 2 tbsp ghee, add 1½ tsp cumin, a pinch of hing and 2 chopped green chillies. Add 5 boiled, cubed potatoes, ½ tsp turmeric, 1 tsp coriander powder, ½ tsp amchur, salt and a little red chilli powder. Toss on medium heat until the edges crisp. Finish with coriander.
Chole tadka
Just before serving, heat 1 tbsp ghee, add ½ tsp cumin, a few slices of ginger and a slit green chilli, turn off the heat, add ½ tsp Kashmiri chilli powder and pour over the chole.
Frying puris in ghee
Keep the ghee hot and fry two or three puris at a time. Press gently with a slotted spoon so they puff. Drain on a steel colander rather than paper, which traps steam and softens them. Strain the ghee afterwards and use it again for cooking over the next few days.
How much ghee you will need
For this menu for six, roughly:
- Puri frying: 400 to 500 ml (much of it can be strained and reused)
- Chole, paneer, aloo and rice: about 8 to 10 tbsp together
- Halwa: about ½ cup
In total, plan on around 700 ml to 1 litre available in the kitchen, with some left over.
A note on serving
Put a small bowl of warm ghee on the table with a spoon. Many people like a little extra ghee on their rice, or brushed over a puri. It is a small gesture that makes a festive meal feel generous.
For festival cooking at this scale, a 2.5 litre dolchi of Desi Cow A2 Ghee is practical, with a small jar of A2 Gir Cow Ghee for the table and the puja.