Hosting Your First Diwali Dinner at Home

Keep the menu small and cook the day before

The default menu is one dal, one paneer or vegetable curry, basmati rice, bread, one snack and bought sweets. That covers what people expect at a Diwali table, and it's realistic for a first-timer. Dal and curry gravy taste better the next day, so cook both the day before and on Diwali you only reheat. Plan per person: 1/4 cup (50 g) dry dal, 3 oz (85 g) paneer, 1/3 cup (65 g) dry rice, 1.5 pieces of bread, 2 samosas and 3 pieces of mithai. Some dal left at the end is a good sign. An empty pot 20 minutes in means you planned too little.

• Bread: frozen or packaged naan or rotis from an Indian grocery or a big supermarket save an hour. Only make puris if you have a helper to fry while you serve.
• Sweets: order mithai from an Indian sweet shop a week ahead, because trays sell out over Diwali weekend. With no sweet shop nearby, serve rice kheer made the day before, or dates stuffed with nuts.
• Jain or no-onion-garlic guests: skip the onion and garlic in the dal tadka and use a pinch of hing (asafoetida) in the hot ghee instead.
• Vegan guests: use potatoes and cauliflower or chickpeas instead of paneer, and oil instead of ghee.
• More than 12 guests: make it a potluck. You cook dal and rice, and assign the curry, snacks and sweets to guests by name.

Dal and curry: ratios and doneness checks

The amounts below are for 8 people. Scale them with the per-person amounts.

• Dal: rinse 2 cups (400 g) toor dal until the water runs mostly clear. Cook it with 6 cups (1.4 L) water and 1/2 tsp turmeric in the Instant Pot for 10 minutes at high pressure, then let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. On the stovetop, use 8 cups (1.9 L) water and simmer toor for 45-60 minutes or masoor for 20-25 minutes. It's done when the lentils have fully broken down and the dal coats the back of a spoon. Whisk in about 2 tsp salt.
• Tadka (tempering): heat 2 tbsp ghee and add 1 tsp cumin seeds. When they sizzle, add 1 chopped onion and cook until golden. Stir in 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste, 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes and 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili, cook 3 minutes, then pour it into the dal. Keep tomatoes out of the Instant Pot itself, or you'll get the burn warning.
• Curry gravy: cook 3 finely chopped onions in 3 tbsp ghee or oil for 12-15 minutes until deep golden. Add 2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste for 1 minute. Add the rest of the tomatoes, 1 tsp turmeric, 2 tsp Kashmiri chili and 1.5 tsp salt, and cook 15-20 minutes until oil separates at the edges. Add 1-1.5 cups (240-360 ml) water, simmer 5 minutes and finish with 2 tsp garam masala.
• Paneer knack: keep the paneer out of the gravy overnight. On the day, cube it, soak the cubes 10 minutes in hot salted water so they turn soft instead of rubbery, and stir them into the reheating gravy for the last 5 minutes.
• Food safety: split the dal and gravy into shallow containers so they chill fast, and refrigerate within 2 hours. On the day, reheat until bubbling at the edges, 165°F (74°C).

Lights first, food last

Do the rangoli and diya setup in the early afternoon, while the kitchen is still quiet. Once the rice is on, you won't have free hands.

• Rangoli placement: in a cold or wet UK or Canadian November, make the rangoli indoors by the entrance on a hard floor or a sheet of poster board, because powder stains carpet. In an Australian spring, the doorstep works fine.
• Puja time: Lakshmi Puja happens in the evening. Look up the puja time (muhurat) for your own city, not India, and plan to eat about 30 minutes after it.
• Rice: rinse and soak the rice 45 minutes before you want to eat. It's done when the water is gone and small steam holes show on the surface, and the 10-minute rest is when you heat everything else.
• Bread: heat it last in foil packets in the oven, because it goes leathery if it sits. For 4 or fewer naan, use a dry skillet for 1 minute per side.
• Check at 30 minutes before guests arrive: the only jobs left should be rice, samosas, reheating and bread.

Diyas in apartments and rentals

Real flames plus ghee smoke can set off smoke detectors, especially in UK and Australian flats with sensitive alarms. Put clay diyas or tea lights on a heat-safe tray or saucer, at least 3 ft (1 m) from curtains and away from where kids and pets run. Fill clay diyas about two-thirds with ghee so the wick doesn't flare. Never leave a lit diya in an empty room. If your lease bans open flames, use LED diyas and keep one real diya for the puja only.