Ditch videshi and go desi with these 10 traditional live counter ideas for your wedding!

Indian weddings are known best for their lavish food spreads, other than the famous ‘naach gaana’ and elaborate decorations. You could get a million things right at the ‘Big Fat Indian’ wedding, but if the food goes wrong, everything goes wrong! Food is the soul of a quintessential Indian wedding. It is the prime motivator for some guests to attend the wedding and a hot topic of discussion among the them even weeks after it.

Apart from serving cuisines from all over the world, the shaadis are now taking it a notch above with their live counter stations. With pastas, pizzas and wok counters becoming passe, arranging for traditional live counters serving authentic foods in bite-sized portions is sure to impress your guest list, along with adding an element of fun and surprise.

Scroll down to check out some desi live counter ideas that are here to stay:

1. Chaat ka thela

Image source: Mumbai Foodie

A wedding spread is incomplete without a live chaat counter. This chaat counter idea never gets old. It’s a hub for all those chaat lovers; serving chatpata snacks like paani puri, bhel puri, dahi puri, aloo tikki chaat, samosa chaat, chana chaat and the list goes on. This live counter is unmissable and undeniable. You can’t simply get enough!

2. Aan Paan Shaan

Having a pan station at your wedding can be delightful for your guests, it’s a perfect ending to their meal. Don’t stick to regular paan flavours that are available at the nearby nukkad. Experiment with fusion flavours like chocolate paan, badam-cherry paan and pineapple pan.

3. Ice gola on wheels

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Colorful and flavorful! Add a bit of spunk to your wedding by getting in an authentic gola cart on wheels. An idea that will take your guests by surprise. Keep smaller, bite-sized golas to allow guests to enjoy other cuisines as well. Don’t stick to the run-of-the-mill kaala khatta, orange and raspberry. Serve your guests some hatke flavours like blueberry, chocolate, lychee and butterscotch.

4. Koyle ki khaan

Image Source: foodmaniacindia

Don’t shy away from keeping a live station dishing out tandoori snacks to your guests. You will be surprised to see how many of them gather around the tandoor to fill their plates with sumptuous and mouth-watering snacks like tandoori paneer, tandoori aloo, tandoori chicken, tandoori baby corn, seekh kebabs, hara bhara kebabs and more.

5. Hot Jalebi with rabdi

Image source: Mumbai Foodie

A plate of hot jalebis topped with rabdi is a marriage made in heaven. This combination couldn’t go wrong. So, with this live counter you can not only play safe but you will also have a guaranteed footfall. Desi dessert lovers will any day go in for these hot and fresh swirling sweets over doughnuts, macaroons, ice creams and brownies.

6. Fresh fruits

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For all the health freaks attending your wedding, you don’t want them going hungry, do you? Add a fresh fruit corner for health conscious guests to binge while they can avoid the guilt.

7. Parathas

Image source: thecrazyindianfoodie

Allow your guests to indulge in delectable parathas smared with dollops of butter, accompanied by some yoghurt and pickle or chutney. These are filling, but absolutely lip-smacking. You can’t stop at one!

8. Cutting chai

Image source: tea_lover_360

Your guest list will have ‘self-proclaimed tea connoisseurs’ and ‘tea lovers’ in aplenty. With chai flavours like ginger, cardamom and fennel, served in kulhads (disposable clay cups), you will be giving them a traditional experience like never before. If you want to ditch the kulhads, stick to the regular ‘cutting chai’ glasses.

9. Papads

One of the most underrated sides in an Indian meal is a papad. This fried side deserves much more love, care and definitely more attention. And,why not? Afterall, it adds that extra kick or crunch to an Indian meal. Serve your guests a plethora of  hot, fresh and crisp papads, right out of the wok. These papads can also be garnished with tomatoes, coriander, onions and lemon for extra zest.

10. Churan and mukhwaas counter

For guests who are confused as to how they should finish off their meal and for those who want to ensure good digestion after binging on wedding food, this is a perfect spot. Bring on the aam papads, anardana golis and imli candies in addition to the sweet mukhwaas.

So, have you started finalising your menu already?