Hacking a Menu

A few months ago, my friend Nirmani and I had a lunch disaster! We cooked pasta and potatoes in the same white sauce and had no gravy to go with it. We made the mistake of cooking two different starchy staple foods. We figured that our meal didn't look as appetizing as we had hoped and made our second mistake- we BAKED BOTH dishes in the microwave oven.
The situation was much worse than it sounds. We were left with big white lumps of starch that we really had to struggle to swallow. Recently I remembered this incident and thought about what had gone wrong- we had cooked a meal without a menu!
Yes, a menu is definitely more important than the amateur cook would imagine. Even if you cook a dozen delicious dishes, but have no menu, a theme that binds the different items of the meal together, the final result will not be filling.
Coming up with a menu is not complicated at all and requires only a little creative thinking. You just need to pay attention to the following three points: GOD

• The Guests

The number of people is important for two different reasons. First and foremost, you need to prepare not only the food but also space, utensils and napkins etc. for the number of people you are going to host. You also need to decide which items can be efficiently prepared, considering the cost as well as  time for preparation. Additionally, you need to consider the preferences of your guests. For example, there might be vegetarians or kids who don't like too much of spice. So your menu will need to match your Guests.

• The Occasion

So what's cooking? Is it breakfast, lunch or dinner? How is the mood of the diners? Will everyone be hungry or will some small nibbles do? What is the weather like? Where and how will the food be served? Will it be a full-blown buffet, a simple TV dinner or a snack on-the-go?

• The Dishes

Unity is what holds the dishes in a menu together. And here are two simple tips to avoid disharmony:

• DO NOT REPEAT ingredients

Tomato soup, Pasta with tomato sauce and a tomato salad as a side dish is a bad idea.

• DO NOT REPEAT cooking techniques

There are so many techniques to choose from- stir fry, deep fry,grill, bake, roast, stew, boil, steam, saute, poach etc. Add some variety!
With G.O.D. you just can't go wrong!!!