Pehli Raat Thaal Tips & Ideas


Pehli Raat - New Years’ Eve Feast, This tradition of Dawoodi Bohra’s holds huge significance in our Bohra household. Talking about food, to us, is like talking about our soul. Whatever the occasion, we glorify it with a feast, blending with cultural touch and moral values.
Pehli Raat thaals (New Years’ Eve feast) signifies our year-long traditional food habits. This day is a big feasting day for all of us.
Are you gearing up for 21 – 51 or 101 varieties of dishes to be served on this occasion? Here are a few simple, easy ideas and tips to prepare for Pehli Raat Thaal.

Why do we celebrate Thaal - Feast

On this day in the thaal we gather all kinds of foods which is religiously acceptable and devotedly eaten all round the year with complete nutritional needs to our consumption. These foods include all the food sourced from roots, weeds, plants, trees, birds, animal products, and of course from the deep seas. We thank Allah for all kinds of food HE has blessed on us, with celebrating the thaal feast.

Consider the Big Picture

You don’t need to exaggerate with food. Plan your thaal menu for the day beforehand; keep it simple with cohesive flavors that complement all the plates present in the thaal.

Do the Work in Advance

When your family, friends, and you are seated around the thaal, make sure they do not have any extra work to do while enjoying the feast. For example: Struggling with food which has meat with bone, fruits with seeds, etc. Slice the fruits, vegetables, salads which can be picked up easily.

Choosing Recipes

Choose your recipes that are easy and quick to cook and can be portioned according to your thaal guests. This is the day when you can make your family and friends enjoy the feast. Make recipes that are easy to pick up like finger food, easy to spoon, and less messy while eating. Choose the perfect source of ingredients in your recipes (Which is important) rather than counting plates at the end of meal. Look around my blog or any other recipe books on your shelf and create a menu that’s built on complements flavors within the same cuisine.

Keep It Light

Eating in thaal with so many varieties of dishes is sometimes too tiring and leads to wasting of food. Everyone seated in thaal should feel ready for the next dish. Prepare your recipe and plating in such a manner that it should look good and light on the tummy. Limit your quantity options when your menu has more varieties or limit your menu varieties if you want to serve large portions.

How to make a Platter of Fruits

You can make a combination of All kinds of Fruits
You can create skewers of many fruits combinations 

How to make a Combination of Mithaas

Plate different types of mithais and desserts in such a way that they should look attractive to eat.

How to make Kharaas Exciting

  • Do not make the same flavored or Ingredients Kharaas. (For Example Cutlets, Pettice, Shammi Kebabs, etc which are fried in Egg) do something differently.
  • Plate Non-veg items with Green Salads and veggies which can be counted in your list.
  • Do not make saucy kharaas which can be messy.

Plating

Plate your recipe simply. Do not crowd your thaal.

Enjoy the Thaal

Once you are done with plating, comes the decoration of the thaal, say no to piling up plates in the thaal. Your entire hard work is lost in piling the dishes altogether in thaal. After the traditional thaal ceremony, present your dishes individually to create anticipation and excitement while enjoying the whole feast. While serving the dishes individually you can explain the nutritional values included in the dish or how you created the dish. A story behind every dish will make the diners remember the feast and the food.

PLEASE NOTE:

The Tips & Ideas above are to help you with the Pehli Raat Feast. You could be innovative and creative and make changes according to your own ideas and method. This is just my personal opinion on how to make the whole feast enjoyable and memorable without facing the cliché problems.
Thank You & Enjoy!! Pehli Raat Feast!


If you have any New Ideas, Tips on Pehli Raat Thaal, and comments please share with us.


Comments

  1. Chef JuzerOctober 4, 2015 at 7:36 AM

    My aunty's In-laws use to put all kinds of raw food in the thaal.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ImkapasiOctober 4, 2015 at 11:38 AM

    Chef can u give us names of few items to put in thaal for kharaas which would go well with each other but at the same time have different style of cooking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chef JuzerOctober 5, 2015 at 12:08 PM

      I am already posting few recipes. You can try some of these.

      Delete
  3. Tasneem aliasgarAugust 5, 2021 at 1:03 AM

    I completely agree to the simplicity and not overflowing the thaal thus resulting in israaf, do it light for the tummy and go grilled instead of fats and red meat, grilled chicken with salads and 3 varieties of fruits with a nice chilled mojito can work wonders for the most auspicious night.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tasneem aliasgarAugust 5, 2021 at 1:07 AM

    When we were kids we used to be intrigued by the idea of competing with our friends the next day about the quantity of items in the thaal, and would love to grab each item from the plate, but as we get matured and wise, I feel we should go light and minimize. The idea chef ponders is just amazing, great job, keep going

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Chef JuzerAugust 5, 2021 at 10:38 PM

      In our childhood, counting items was or a different purpose. specially when lower middle class families could see some amazing varieties once a year and specially on this eve.

      Delete
  5. AnonymousAugust 5, 2021 at 8:24 PM

    Wow this idea will really help me a lot...

    ReplyDelete
  6. UnknownAugust 6, 2021 at 12:28 AM

    Amazing Ideas , Thanks a lot Chef Juzer.

    ReplyDelete

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