Indian food at the beach

[summerstyle]

Hi all - just back from a lovely weekend at the seaside in a vibrant multicultural area. There were loads of Indian families on the beach who at lunchtime brought out the most amazing smelling food.

Most of the groups seemed to have chapatis and curry.

I love Indian food but have never thought of it as beach/picnic food.

So I'm after some ideas for great Indian food that can be eaten cold.

Receipts or links to recipes would be amazing.

Thank you

As a child our standard picnic would be katchori. Very similar to samosas but round and with a pea or lentil filling. Meera Sodha’s recipe is in the link below, not made it myself but she’s generally reliable.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/02/10-best-pea-recipes-soup-kachori-pancakes

We’d have them with green chutney.

Other popular picnic foods are flavoured breads. Thepla and dhebra are two you could try. Both very transportable and don’t really need anything to go with them.

I was once at a water park while the DDs were in the pool having a tea at the cafe, I was hogging a large table and an Indian family asked if they could sit down as no other tables, i of course said yes and they produced the most delicious array of food and insisted I joined in - if was fab!

My friend packs food into large thermos type containers to keep it warm! For the older generations eating out wasn't a luxury they could afford anyway. Youngsters often prefer junk food alas

Its not always cold. We shared a cable car at the Heights of Abraham with a lovely family who had a full on Indian Banquet in those metal tiffin boxes (well we shared with the Grandma and the Tiffin boxes the rest ofnthe family were in the one behind.. It smelt divine.

Paneer tikka!

Our family picnic classics :

Qeema tikkis( minced meat patties ) ..can put them in buns or on its own with mint dip..lovely!!

Biryani : mouthwatering!!! Can be eaten hot or cold.

Chana chaat : boiled chick peas with all the spices mixed in little bit of yogurt. Eaten cold.

Roasted chicken: chicken legs Roasted in oven then wrapped in foil to keep hot and eaten as soons as we get to the beach😆.

Have a trip to a sweet centre and try the samosas, paneer rolls, kebabs and sweets.

The get chapatis, bhajis, other breads.

Tandoori chicken works well, and if you are allowed it can be cooked on a BBQ.

Potatoes work well hot or cold, something similar to Bombay aloo - fry some sliced onions and spices in oil - make sure there is black pepper and coriander and cumin seeds - let them pop, then add potatoes and boiling water and simmer for 10 - 15 mins, you want it to be quite dry so after 15 mins turn up the heat to boil off the liquid.

Samosas, Kathi rolls (roti wraps with filling), Bombay sandwiches, stuffed parathas, thepla and Bombay aloo-puri are some of the picnic options we go for (I am from India).

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions! I'm definitely going to try some these out.