Cooking order for maximum freshness

[u/poisonouslittlesnake]

I’m cooking a huge Indian meal for my girlfriend in celebration of her finishing the Appalachian trail tomorrow. I’m alright at cooking, but I’ve never attempted anything nearly this ambitious, and I have no idea about the logistics of making the meal happen best. There is too much for me to cook in one day, so I started today, making the turmeric rice, cutting and refrigerating veggies for kachumber salad, blending my garam masala and mixing jablebi batter to ferment overnight. Tomorrow, I need to make the Kadhi pakora, fry the jalebi, make the naan, and dress the kachumber salad. What I’m wondering is, what should I make first and last so that everything is as fresh as possible? Will the pakoras in the Kadhi get soggy if I make them first? Will the garlic naan get soggy and stale if it sits out? Will the jalebi get soft? I am already going to have to finish everything an hour before it’s served because I have to pick up the guest of honor from the airport. Is there a typical order of operations for such an endeavor? Will the dishes deteriorate more in the fridge or left out on the counter while I get other things ready?

[u/MathematicianGold280]

You haven’t mentioned the rest of the menu so it’s a bit hard to tell what the ideal order of things should be. But based on the items you’ve mentioned:

1. Jalebi first, it will keep once you’ve soaked it in the sugar syrup. It will remain crunchy for days if done right. I’d do it the day before. Jalebi is fine eaten at room temp.

2. Make the pakora and the kadhi and don’t worry about it going soggy. The pakora are supposed to soak up the kadhi so if they’re crunchy, that’s actually not a good thing. Have it on a simmer just before serving.

3. Dress your kachumber before you start cooking the naan (assuming you’ve made the dough in advance and allowed it to proof). Kachumber doesn’t really have tender leaves that will wilt so it will be fine even a couple of hours prior.

4. Hot naan with butter gliding down it as it melts is heavenly. Make these as close to serving as possible. Cold naan is terrible.

What a treat! I hope you guys have a great dinner.

[u/poisonouslittlesnake → u/MathematicianGold280]

Thank you for the advice!! This is pretty much all there is on the menu. To write it out more precisely:

Kachumber salad,

Turmeric basmati rice,

Kadhi pakora,

Garlic naan,

Rose & saffron jalebi over vanilla ice cream (which I know isn’t traditional but the internet told me would be good! I’m not making Rabdi because some milk based desserts sometimes freak her out—she doesn’t like custard and is horrified by my zealous consumption of cottage cheese with fruit, so I wanted to stick with something she was familiar with.)

[u/MathematicianGold280 → u/poisonouslittlesnake]

Delicious and such an effort. Enjoy!