Rangoli Thali or Colourful Indian Food Thali has colourful dishes complementing each other and make a balanced diet that pleases your senses and palate as well.
I have not used any artificial colours to prepare the dishes. Everything has its natural colours. The dishes are adapted from the different Indian States. I have not used any artificial food to prepare the dishes. Though my initial plan and menu had a lot more dishes that would make an elaborate thali, I had to cut short the number of dishes finally prepared due to a lack of various factors.
I wanted to make some starters but couldn't make it for the thali.
Coming to the other dishes, for accompaniment, I made the bright Purple Beets Raita
The salad had all possible colours like Red, Purple, Orange, White, Green, and Yellow like the Onions, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Carrot, Green Chilies along with Lemon.
The Indian Flatbread had Coriander Laccha Paratha with whole spices that were tasty on their own.
You just need one gravy side dish with Yellow the Aloo chana Kurma that balanced both the paratha and the Pulao.
For the Rice Mains, I made Carrot Peas Pulao.
A Thali is not complete without Curd Rice. So deck it up with pomegranate and green grapes.
Finally, to end it all, a rose flavoured Bombay Halwa.
How to plan and cook the dishes for the Thali
As Bombay Halwa needed more time, I did that first by making the Rose Syrup with the dried roses that we got for our BM#100 from Dubai.
Next went the rice for soaking for both pulao and curd rice. I made curd rice in the pressure cooker which makes it all soft.
Coriander Laccha Paratha needs some resting time, I did the prep work and the dough was ready before making the pulao. I previously thought of making either phulkas or pooris. With the AtoZ Indian Poori Series going on, I wanted to make parathas.
Once the pulao was on the stove, I set out to make the parathas hot just before serving the food.
In between the whole madness, the salad was chopped and prepared along with beets raita.
I had plans for some starters and drinks, which couldn't be prepared for lack of time.
Plus we had guests on that day and everything became more hectic than planned.
Even though I was feeling bad about missing out on a couple of more dishes, I was so happy with the final colourful thali.
This Rangoli thali is part of the Mega BM happening all through September, with each week showcasing different themes. For week 1, I had chosen to do Platters for Elders and I end my week 1 with Rangoli Thali for Day 4.
Colourful Rangoli Thali
Beets Raita - Purple
Colourful Veggie Salad
Chana Aloo Kurma - Yellow
Coriander Paratha - Green
Carrot Peas Pulao - Orange and Green
Curd Rice with Pomegranate and Grapes - White, Green, and Red
Rose Bombay Halwa - Pink
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#116
Vaishali says
What a beautiful concept! The colours look gorgeous and I still can’t figure out how and what made you think of this thali .
Totally awesome and truly a rangoli thali!
All colours are standing out, it’s rather tough to get the vibrancy in food with natural colours , you have done an amazing job !
Srivalli says
Thank you so much Vaishali. Getting that complement from you surely makes its so special..:)
Rajani says
Beautiful colors on that plate Valli! I remember the halwa recipe, it looks really delicious with such nice pale pink color! I haven’t heard of this thali before and I love the concept of a plate with vibrant color food!
Suma Gandlur says
I too was wondering where did you get the idea from for a colorful thali. You were able to plan and cook such a vibrant colored, complete meal without compromising with the nutrition.
Harini Rupanagudi says
Wow! What a wonderful concept of rangoli thali.Fantastic colors and very nice color contrast.
Narmadha says
Amazing idea valli. I am enjoying all your thali. Kudos to your efforts to plan well.
Srividhya says
It's indeed a colorful thali and hats off to your meticulous planning and love the way you executed it. Awesome. Amazing concept as well.
Renu says
You need not be stand, the thali looks very colourful and as you said it will appeal to the taste as well as senses. Looks amazing