Feeding a Multitude, Elegantly &Thrifty

Fourteen people gathered for a meal at our extended table on the eve of the recent memorial service for my late husband. How could I cope with the throng, half of them vegetarians, with a minimum of hassle and a maximum of mouth-watering elegancy, bearing in mind that without his USAF-retired pay, household income will be slashed?

The answer that came at once to my mind was a Rijstaffel. That’s a Dutch word for a sort of potluck invented by the British Raj in India long, long ago. The host cooked the curry and the rice. Each guest had his houseboy bring something to put on it.

The heart of a Rijstaffel meal is the curry. For a vegan or vegetarian curry, sprouting develops the Vitamin E in the lentils and the beans. Sprouting makes legumes cook faster and keeps them from causing gas. Without a couple of days forewarning for sprouting, you’ll need to give the legumes the longer cooking time allowed for in the recipe below. I doubt you'll be cooking for fourteen people, but if you must, here's the recipe, developed from one supplied years ago by Kaj Berry.

 RIJSTAFFEL
 14 to 16 servings

LENTIL & BEAN CURRY
Total cooking time: 1 ½ hours

3 cups brown lentils
2 cups small red beans
Water to cover plus 1 inch

Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and cook slowly for 30 minutes.
In a fairly large skillet, stir-fry until the mustard seeds pop:

6 Tablespoons butter or ghee*21 Tablespoon white mustard seeds
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
2 Tablespoons minced ginger root
I Tablespoon whole coriander seeds, optional
1 Tablespoon each dill and celery seeds, optional

Add and stir-fry until onions are semi-transparent:
4 yellow dry onions, wedge-cut in ¼-inch wide slices
1 head garlic cloves, mashed and peeled
1 green chili pepper, minced, or green Tabasco sauce to taste
1 stick cinnamon finely broken up (I used a small hammer on it)

Add the onion mixture to the lentils and beans. Stir. Simmer covered 1 hour more, until the beans are very tender but not dissolved, adding more water if needed.

Add and stir in:
1 Tablespoon dried crumbled marjoram leaves or 3 Tablespoons fresh marjoram leaves, or 1 scant teaspoon powdered marjoram
½ teaspoon ground cloves
1 ½ Tablespoons curry powder, or to taste
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

Turn off the heat and let the flavors meld while you assemble the rest of the meal.

Serve with yogurt to refresh and cool the palates while eating the hot curry. Garnish with “boys” (side-dishes carried in
by each British officer’s servant boy). One might bring the chutney, another raisins, others slivered toasted almonds, chopped green onions including their tops, minced parsley, pineapple bits, chopped hard-boiled eggs, or horseradish, or chopped toasted peanuts.

To toast peanuts, spread the shelled nuts in a single layer on a bacon sheet. Slip it into a 400-degree oven for a few minutes, watching to see that they don’t over-brown. Chop the roasted nuts in a food processor or nut-chopper.

For beverage, we offered sparkling water and juices.