Indian style food picnic help please

[MargoChanellingBarbara]

I have offered to cater for just eight people at an evening outdoor picnic for an open air event. Parking is close and we will take a table and chairs for the concert.

I would like to prepare a picnic of Indian style food and would appreciate advice and suggestions.

We are likely to eat 1 to 2 hours after leaving the house.

How can I keep onion bhajis and mushroom samosas warm and crisp?
Chicken tikka warm and moist ? (Sorry, I know that is not a popular word on Mumsnet)
Is there a problem with serving (effectively) a cold vegetable rice dish with a hot curry.
Do peshwari naans freeze well?

Suggestions for other picnic dishes welcomed. TIA

Indians love a picnic! Normally my mum would fry the bhajias, samosas and kachori in the morning, wrap in foil and by the time we ate our lunch they would be lukewarm or room temperature. There would be no expectation that they’d be hot and crisp (except for one occasion in India when my mother and aunts took the oil and frying equipment with us and set up a fire by the picnic area, probably not practical for you 😂).

Does it need to be an Indian picnic?

Thank you Karma, the cooking there is tempting, but not realistic.

It doesn’t have to be Indian, but I read about Indian picnics and thought it sounded a good idea and different to the usual.

If you are worried about keeping food hot, perhaps serve cold dishes instead? While not authentically Indian, Coronation Chicken has the right flavours and would work well for a picnic, served with a green salad.
A selection of Indian sweets would be a nice addition.

It seems like quite hard work to cook authentic Indian food specifically for a picnic (if you’re not used to it). I don’t think samosas, Pakora’s etc taste as nice cold but that’s just me. There are lots of other things that work better in a cold picnic.

I love bhajis and samosas cold. Take dipping sauces.
Rice salad is fine, chicken tikka skewers. I'd not go for anything with a sauce or try to do a curry though.
I think it sounds lovely!

The bhajis won't be crisp. They'll be cold and spongy. Samosas might be ok

I quite like room temperature bhajis too. Kathi rolls would work well and maybe a Bombay potato salad, kachumber and tandoori chicken portions. Biryani style rice salad is lovely. I love the Walkers Sensations mini poppadoms which would be great for a picnic, Aldi and M&S do gorgeous big tubs of an Indian loaded dip which would go well.

Do you have any Indian shops near you? We go to an Indian sweet shop that also does savouries for an easy picnic.

I agree not to do a curry. If you want a rice dish a biriani is a good choice.

Agree with salady things with Indian flavours rather than loads of fried things and curry and rice!

look up dabeli - relatively quick and easy, and tasty
and/or bhel or chaat

plus the poppadoms, dip etc PP mentioned (or a simple raita)

Don’t forget drinks. You can take some hot chai in a flask and maybe fresh lime juice for a cold drink.

my mum makes a fantastic Indian salad, super easy too

onions
tomato’s
coriander
mint sauce
nigella seeds

chop really small!

If you shop at Ocado, they have a world food promotion on ATM, with things like frozen paratha and chapattis, sweets by Regal, and bottles of lassi, which might help the finances of a picnic for eight people.

Bombay potato salad

Just had another thought if you wanted something hot you could make a big batch of keema and put it in a thermos and take some nice rolls to make keema pav, messy but so delicious 😋

Thank you all.

I would like to take some hot dishes and have various food thermos flasks, insulated pots and a heated (car cigarette lighter) lunchbox at my disposal.

I am up for a challenge, the idea isn’t to make it as easy as possible, but as tasty and different as I can manage.

The potato salad ideas are great. Dabeli looks lovely, as does the keema pav.

biryani rice salad sounds perfect.

I have cheated with the store bought Bombay mix and packets of popadoms.

raita and chutneys also in hand. Favourite, the onion salad sounds perfect.

Ada, I already have the frozen parathas and will probably use them for the samosa shells. I can look into the offer items you mention.

I live where there are quite a few sweet centres, they cook samosas and bhajis and sell them, it depends when you get to the shop whether they are hot, warm or coldish (they are not refrigerated).

Home made samosa are a thing of beauty, a labour of love, take ages to make and are eaten in seconds, this is probably why most people use a sweet centre.

I agree with having onion salad and you can also cut cucumbers and lightly spice them with salt and chilli powder and a squeeze of lemon, it might be an idea to not add the salt until you get there.

Sheek / Seek kebab is perfect for a picnic as are egg nargis - sort of spicy scotch egg and shami kebab.

Raita on the side, obviously and I'd add some fresh fruit, mango and melon.

Finish it all off with gulab jamun.

Oh and take a couple of rolls of kitchen paper. And possible some disposable thali plates.

Thank you all so much.

Egg nargis, what an interesting history; I do fancy trying those with quails’ eggs.

The paneer kathi roll filling looks tasty.

I do want to make, rather than purchase, so for pudding, how does mango and cardamom cheesecake sound ?

The cheesecake sounds wonderful. I would perhaps also focus on vegetarian dishes to avoid risk of food not being kept hot or cold enough definitely avoid prawns.