I’ve have been invited to a friend’s to make Indian food, but I’m supposed to pick the dishes and make the shopping list before tomorrow morning. The problem is I know nothing about Indian food, other than that I like it. Anyone have suggestions for a full meal (entree, sides, etc.) that goes well together, with ingredients/recipes?
Must be vegetarian, and too much dairy can be a problem. (A little is ok.)
Chana Masala is my favorite, google any recipe and grab those ingredients.
The big question is whether the friend has a pantry already set up with all the spices? It’s more complicated if you have to get all that, too. Most grocery stores will have what you need, but the ready-made spices aren’t as good as if you can get to a real spice store. Most stores have naan in the bakery section, sort of half-baked so you can finish it in the oven. Is your friend going to have chutneys and such already, or are you starting from scratch? Is part of the plan to make your own of stuff like that, too? You may need to also pick up some pre-made selections if your friend doesn’t already have that stuff, too.
You didn’t tell your friend you know nothing about cooking Indian food? I’m hoping your friend is well schooled? There seems to be a key bit of information missing, like do you have to pick up some basmati rice, or does your friend already have a 20-pound sack of the stuff? Will she already have chickpeas ready to go, or will you have to pick up canned? Cooking them from dry is better, but you might not have time.
If you’ve got an Indian market anywhere in your city, you’ll be able to find pre-mixed packets of spices (and also sauces, but it’ll be better if you make the sauce yourself).
ETA: My favorite veggie Indian dish is matar paneer.
He knows I don’t know anything, I think he was just a little overly optimistic about my ability to get it done. He wants to throw caution to the wind and wing it… it can’t be that hard, right? Now I feel like a shit that didn’t follow directions and let him down. 
In my defense I was exhausted yesterday and literally could not sit down after work without dozing off.
No ready-stocked Indian kitchen; everything will have to be purchased and we live in a rural area without much in the way of ethnic groceries. May have enough to fake it though. Making paneer was suggested.
I think what he wanted was for me to find things I’d like to try, give him an ingredients list that he’d pick up in his travels tomorrow, and that we will prepare together when I arrive on Saturday. I understand and love his plan in theory… my problem was with my part of the execution of it. He was pretty into it… I’d like to be able to salvage that (and today he’s the one that’s exhausted and doesn’t want to mess with it) and present a plan of attack with grocery items and a way to put them all together so that they could taste good. By the seats of our pants. For FUN. 
I’m only a little out of my depth… but we are compassionate, understanding people who are not uptight…we should be able to figure this out with a little guidance.
Do you both like cauliflower? If so, aloo gobi is easy and doesn’t need a whole arsenal of spices. I like to eat it with chapattis.
You said you might be making paneer, so saag paneer is another option, and in fact would go nicely with the aloo gobi if you wanted to do both.
OK, assuming you’re starting with an empty pantry, my advice/shopping list would include:
Easy peasy, delicious, and semi-authentic! Don’t be frightened of Indian food, if you’ve made a stew before, you’ve made a curry, just change the seasoning and spices a bit! Lots of curry fans here, so if you need more help, just ask!
I appreciate the suggestions here, and I am going to circle back to them in the not-so-distant future. As for my ‘need answer fast-ish’ request, we decided to skip it due to complication and time constraints. He made me some delicious cod with fresh lemon juice & capers, grilled asparagus and a lovely salad instead. And greyhounds made with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. No complaints here at all! Everything was wonderful.
We’re going to spend some time studying up on Indian cooking and start amassing the spices we’ll need to do it right. This will require internet ordering, most likely, due to regional shopping inadequacies. Once we’re armed with proper supplies and a plan we’ll be getting together for an Indian food night.
Thanks again, and feel free to add any further suggestions to the thread. I’ll be coming back to it for reference.
If you’re going to do a full Indian meal, then I would heartily recommend a full-course Bengali-style meal:
Condiments (individual portions for each place setting):
Super-traditional style (some of these details will be impossible to replicate or otherwise undesirable):
The meal is served in a room that has no purpose other than for eating. The floor and walls should be of polished concrete, or some other surface easily washed with soap and water. A properly designed room would have no right-angle corners, so that you can just run soap and water around the room without worrying about moisture or dirt getting trapped in the corners.
Diners sit on the floor, either directly or on small pedestals. They are served by the lady of the house/host, who does not eat with the main dining party. The diners are not allowed to touch serving implements, common bowls or utensils or serving dishes. They may touch only their own food and place settings. (Of course, in modern society, people do use tables and chairs, and the hostess can eat with everyone else, but the taboo against touching anything but your own place settings when you’re eating is still pretty strong.)
Each place setting consists of a large metal platter (or, really old school—a large banana leaf) surrounded by an arc of small metal bowls holding condiments, etc., and a steel tumbler for drinking water.
Diners eat with their hands. There are no eating utensils. Each diner begins by sprinkling some water on the floor in an arc around his or her place setting. The purpose of this was to create a barrier against ants, a common problem when eating in India. Of course, you wouldn’t do this if you were sitting at a table.
Then, the hostess serves a large mound of white rice in the center of each diner’s place (or banana leaf). For best results, the rice should be slightly overcooked, so it mashes together easily.
Courses:
A spoonful of warm ghi (clarified butter) is served on top of the mound of white rice and is eaten plain.
First course: Bitter vegetable palate-cleanser (shukto)— some kid of bitter vegetable, such as some kind of bitter gourd (lau or uchchhe or korola)
Second course: Green leafy vegetable (shãk) —such as spinach
Third course (the largest): Lentil dish with fritters (dal-bhaja) — lentils served with mashed boiled potato and several batter-fried, deep fried, or otherwise crunchy items (bhaja). (In a pinch, my mother would use potato chips or those potato stick things that used to come in cylindrical cans.) A very fancy dinner would include some kind of fish-based bhaja, like little balls of fish paste or roe. Most common are fried potato pieces or batter-fried eggplant slices. The most common lentil is red lentil (mushorir dal), because it cooks the fastest.
Fourth course: Vegetable (torkari) — a fancy meal will have at least two separate vegetable dishes
Fifth course: Dried freshwater fish dish (shutki)
Sixth course: Fresh freshwater fish dish (machh) — prawns/shrimp and other seafood count as fish in Bengali cuisine.
Fish and seafood as well as white rice are very important to Bengali food culture. A person who is claiming to be a “real” Bengali will say that he eats fish and rice twice a day, lunch and dinner—du bæla machh-bhat khai).
Seventh course: Eggs (dim)—traditionally duck’s eggs, but these days chicken’s eggs are common.
Eighth course: Meat (mangsho) — traditionally goat meat, but these days chicken (murgi) is also common. If both chicken and goat are being served, then the chicken is served first.
Someone expressing pleasure at being served a “complete” meal by a hostess will note that machh-mangsho—fish and meat—was served.
Ninth course: Chatni — a tangy-sweet chutney, eaten plain, without rice.
Tenth course: Yogurt (doi) — Either the common, plain, tangy yogurt, or the Bengali specialty — mishti doi —a super-sweet, thick, rich, yellow-colored yogurt.
Eleventh course: Dessert (mishti) — Bengali sweets are very syrupy and rich, often milk or ricotta cheese (chhana) based.
In Indian culture, Bengalis are stereotyped as being very sweet-toothed and Bengali sweets are known as being of high quality.