Indian weddings are very rich with festive looks, décor, family rituals, dance, vibrant clothes, traditional music and yes not to forget its delicious traditional Indian cuisine. Indian wedding is impossible without serving some finger-licking food to the honorable guests. In Malaysia, Indian weddings are followed according to most of the Indian rituals however with a little difference in domestic ritual and cuisine. Earlier the ladies of the concerned families would prepare the whole food to be served that’s the reason the wedding feast was called as “bhoj” or “viruntu” in Tamil. All the ladies would take the responsibility of everything from chopping vegetables, grinding spices to making sweets but recently professional wedding caterers have replaced them in the kitchen.
Generally, vegetarian food is being served in a temple wedding due to religious beliefs. And mostly it’s being served by the temple authority so it is a bit simple as compared to the wedding reception food. Rice is inevitable in any kind of Indian wedding. So parboiled rice is must while pulao or fragrant rice is optional in the wedding meal which also includes sambar, brinjal kuttu, spicy potato peratal, vegetarian chicken, masala vadai, dal spinach, valaka poriyal,deep fried veggies, papadam, rasam, etc which is enough to fulfill your caloric content for the day. And to satisfy your sweet tooth they serve paal payasam or semiya payasam, kesari, or a fruit platter. In drinks its more of nimau ice, iced tea, or canned drinks.
In earlier times wedding food would not be this lavish. Its simple meal with parboiled rice with three side dishes,sambar, rasam like that of banana leaf meal accompanied with papadam and pickle and yes those food would be served on banana leaf and served by the family members of the bride and groom’s family which is again being replaced by the buffet culture these days to make it less formal and simple.
On the contrary wedding reception is a gala event than the wedding day. More of the guests were invited and of course more food and entertainment too. In reception more non-vegetarian food options would be there like chicken and mutton varuval, chicken randang, fish fillet, garlic masala prawns ,Ayam mesak lemak, fried chicken, mutton curry along with basmati rice and biryani rice, noodles, vegetable korma, deep-fried vegetables, chapati or roti cenai, salad, papadam and with desserts its payasam, kesari, gulab jamun, ice cream etc.
In every culture whether Indian, Chinese or Malay, food is an element to celebrate every little thing in life and cherish memories.