KITCHEN PRACTICE 1 — A Full Thali From Start to Finish
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Chapter: Indian Cookery 10 — Capstone: A Thali

TASK
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Plan and cook a full thali — a curry, a dal, rice, roti, and a
raita — using the backward-planning sequence from this chapter, so
every component is ready to plate at roughly the same time.

WHAT TO DO
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1. Start the curry first: build a bhuna base (Ch.4), brown your
   chosen protein or vegetable into it (Ch.5), add liquid, and let
   it simmer.
2. Start the dal shortly after: wash your lentils and get them
   cooking, whether by pressure cooker or stovetop (Ch.6).
3. Rinse and soak your basmati rice, timing it so its own cook and
   rest period finishes around the same time as the curry and dal
   (Ch.8).
4. Make the raita early — whisk yogurt smooth, fold in grated
   cucumber, salt, and roasted ground cumin, and chill it.
5. Once the curry, dal, and rice are all ready or nearly ready, knead
   and rest a small batch of roti dough (or prepare it earlier and
   rest it while the other dishes cook), then roll and cook the roti
   fresh, one at a time, right at the very end.
6. Plate everything together — rice, curry, dal, raita, and hot roti
   — and serve immediately.

WHAT TO EXPECT
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- The curry and dal should both be fully finished and holding warm
  by the time the rice has rested and the roti dough is ready to
  roll.
- The roti should go straight from the flame to the plate, still
  visibly steaming.
- The finished thali should look like a real, composed plate — each
  component distinct, not blended together — with the roti clearly
  the freshest, hottest item on it.

WHY THIS WORKS AS AN ANSWER
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This exercise is the direct, hands-on payoff of the chapter's own
backward-planning table, and brings together real technique from
five separate earlier chapters into one coordinated meal — the whole
point of a capstone.