India is well known for its spicy food. People from different part of the country use spices in their own way and come out with exotic dishes. Planning Indian buffet menu is quite difficult as you have lot of food varieties. Basically you can find two categories, South cuisine which centers on rice and North cuisine which focuses more on rotis (Indian bread). Both are good but tastes different. Besides curries, rice and rotis; chutneys and pickles are the dishes with accompany the main meal. Find some interesting Indian buffet menu ideas here.

 Appetizers

Pakora is one of the Indian appetizers popular in all the regions. Traditionally it is made by dousing onions in batter and then frying in oil. However you can use other vegetables like eggplant, potatoes, chopped spinach and cauliflower. Chaat dish like bhel puri, samosa, and pani puri can be served as appetizer.  Sheek kebab is a treat to non vegetarians; the minced or finely chopped lamb is packed on skewers and baked. It tastes fantastic with mint chutney.

Soups and Salads

Soup made from tomato is very popular among vegans. Tomato surba is a light soup made from tomato and authentic Indian spices.  Chicken rasam is a thin spicy soup made using coriander, mint and peppercorn. Chicken tikka salad is a flavorful salad that uses chopped onion and mint leaves. A bowl of vegetable with pepper, salt and onion makes a crunchy salad.

Rice and Breads

Basmati rice is popular rice variety in Indian cuisine. This rice is long, nutty and aromatic. Roti and phulka are some of the Indian bread that is unleavened and similar to tortilla. Naan is the leavened bread which is thicker than the other types. Indian bread can be made using whole wheat flour (atta) and refined flour (maida). You can serve rice and Indian bread with variety of vegetarian and non vegetarian side dishes.

Sides dishes or curries

Curry is a sauce- like side dish which is served with rice or Indian bread. Spices like cloves, cardamom, and cumin are the basic mixtures of any curry. Besides these, garlic, chili and ginger with coconut milk and tomatoes give the creamy and thick consistency to the curries. Chicken, lamb and almost all seafood can be curried while vegan uses chickpeas, spinach and cauliflower.

Desserts

Indian desserts are of two types, one is milk based such as rasamalai, burfi, rasbari etc while the other is flour based like ladoo, malpuwa, halwa and lal mohan. Kulfi is Indian ice cream that uses condensed milk, sugar, and nuts. Kheer is an Indian rice pudding made using cardamom, saffron, nutmeg and sugar.

Chutneys and pickles are important items on Indian cuisine. It uses wide variety of ingredients like mint, onion, tomato, and many more. Make your Indian buffet menu fabulous by adding all the tasty dishes.

Image credits: iFood.tv