While the whole country awaits the grand ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's swearing-in, most eyes are on the lavish dinner spread that comprises lip smacking dishes. The star of the spread is expected to be the Dal Raisina that takes a whopping 48-hours to cook.
New Delhi: Since Tuesday (May 28), chefs at the Rashtrapati Bhavan are busy preparing food for around 8,000 eminent guests who will be attending the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (May 30).
While all eyes will be on the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) cabinet, the highlight, as of now will be the lavish dinner menu. The showstopper of the dinner menu will definitely be the ‘Dal Raisina’, which takes around 48 hours to be cooked.
The dish is said to be an original recipe of the resident chef MU Kasture, and it is prepared using ‘maa ki daal’ (black lentils). Raisina Dal is a signature dish which is a slow-cooked lentil dish.
According to reports, President Ram Nath Kovind is going to host a High Tea and banquet after the swearing-in ceremony which will comprise a lavish spread of mix of popular Indian and Western snacks along with finger foods and desserts.
Media reports suggest that the High Tea menu is expected to have lemon tarts, sandwiches, samosas, lemon coriander soup and the Bengali sweet Rajbhog.
The banquet for visiting dignitaries would have both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. The ceremony will be attended by foreign political leaders and diplomats, as well as Indian VIPs and dignitaries from various industries, including chief ministers, writers, film and sports celebrities.
The President’s kitchen has taken into consideration that the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) members, who will be visiting India for the oath ceremony, belong from countries to India’s east.
The cuisines of these countries are not very rich or heavy and their meal timings will be rather early considering the time difference.
As per latest reports, all leaders of BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) nations – Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and Bhutan – have been invited.
Leaders from Kyrgyz Republic (who is chair of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) and Mauritius (who was the chief guest at Pravasi Bharatiya Divas) have also been invited for the ceremony.
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