A thali is not a product. It is a way of eating: one large plate, a few small bowls holding things that should not run into each other, a spoon, a glass of water, and everything arriving at once rather than in courses. The festive version is the same meal, laid out with more care.
We should say this plainly before you read any further: Modus & Mood does not sell a thali set. There is no tray with fitted katoris, no boxed six-piece set. What we make is the parts, and they assemble into a very good thali if you choose them with the meal in mind. This guide is about how to do that, using pieces that are actually in stock, at the prices they are actually listed at.
What the format actually asks for
Strip away the brass and the nostalgia and a thali needs four things. A base plate wide enough to hold rotis or rice with room left over. Two or three small bowls, so that dal does not reach the sabzi. Something shared in the middle for the table, because at a festive meal nobody is eating a sealed individual portion. And a glass, which people forget until the food is already served and the table has no room left.
The traditional answer is a rimmed thali with katoris that sit inside it. Our answer is a flat dinner plate with the small bowls placed beside it rather than on it. It takes a little more table, and every piece works on its own the rest of the year, which is the argument for buying it at all.
The base plate
This is the decision that sets the rest. A hand-painted plate with a busy centre will fight with the food, so the pattern is better held at the rim.
The Trellis Pattern Indigo Rim Ceramic Dinner Plate in Cream at ₹599 is the plainest of the dinner plates and the easiest to build on: cream field, pattern kept to the rim, indigo edge. The Floral Pattern Ceramic Dinner Plate at ₹899 comes in Marigold, Sage Green and Rose, and carries more colour, which suits a table where the food is mostly beige and gold. The Floral Rim Ceramic Dinner Plate in Sepia is listed in two sizes, Large at ₹999 and Small at ₹899, so you can run the large one as the thali base and the small one as a side plate in the same pattern.
If you want something quieter, the Leher Stripe Hand-Painted Ceramic Plate at ₹599 comes in Indigo, Scarlet Red, Marigold Yellow, Mint Green, Coral and Sky Blue. The stripes wander slightly from plate to plate. Buy four and they will not be identical. That is the point.
One honest note: we do not publish dimensions on these pages, so judge scale from the photographs. If a plate has to hold a full spread for one person, look at the dinner plates, not the snack plates.
Standing in for katoris
We do not make katoris. We do make several small serving dishes that hold the same amount of dal and look better doing it.
The Crosshatch Square Ceramic Serving Dish at ₹599 is the most katori-like in use: squared off, easy to line up in a row beside the plate, cheap enough to buy in threes. The Triangle Ceramic Serving Dish in Speckled and the Nesting Triangle Ceramic Serving Dish in Confetti Dot are both ₹699 and both triangular, which sounds impractical and is not: three triangles tuck into a corner of the table in less space than three circles.
For a bowl with a bit more presence, the Embossed Lacework Ceramic Bowl in Cream at ₹899 has the pattern pressed into the clay rather than painted on, so it reads as texture and not decoration. The Sculpted Bow Ceramic Bowl at ₹699 comes in Pink and Blue with a bow shaped into the side, which is the one piece here that will get commented on.
The shared dish in the middle
A festive thali sits on a table that also has communal food on it. The Radial Ceramic Salad Bowl in Indigo at ₹1,499 and the Fluted Ceramic Salad Bowl with a Blue Rim at ₹1,999 are both big enough to be the middle of the table rather than a side note. The Dune Speckled Nerikomi Ceramic Bowl at ₹1,499 is made a different way again: coloured clays layered and sliced so the pattern runs right through the body rather than sitting on the surface. We have written about how that works in our guide to nerikomi.
For dry snacks, chaat, or the mithai that arrives halfway through, the oval snack plates at ₹599 are the right shape: Floral Oval Snacks Plate in Marigold, Sage Green and Blue Meadow, and the Palm Print Oval Snacks Plate. An oval fits between two thalis where a round platter will not.
Three ways to build it
Costed from the live prices, so you can see what a place setting actually comes to. The first row is the Trellis Pattern Indigo Rim plate with two Crosshatch Square dishes and a Ribbed Glass Tumbler in Clear. The second is the Floral Pattern plate in Marigold with a Sculpted Bow bowl, an Embossed Lacework bowl and a Tall Glass Tumbler in Honey. The third is a Floral Oval Snacks Plate, the Radial Ceramic Salad Bowl in Indigo and a Nesting Triangle serving dish for the middle of the table.
| Build | Pieces | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Simple, one person | 599 + 599 + 599 + 699 | ₹2,496 |
| Fuller, one person | 899 + 699 + 899 + 699 | ₹3,196 |
| The shared middle | 599 + 1,499 + 699 | ₹2,797 |
Shipping is free on every order, with no minimum, anywhere in India.
Water, and what comes after
The glass is the piece people leave until last and then resent. The Ribbed Glass Tumbler in Clear at ₹699 is the workhorse, and the Stackable Glass Tumbler at ₹699 in Amber, Cobalt Blue or Apple Green stacks away afterwards, which matters when twelve of them have to live in one cupboard. The Ribbed Glass Tumbler with a Coloured Rim at ₹699 puts the colour at the lip, in Cobalt Blue or Forest Green.
After the meal, chai. The Stackable Ceramic Chai Cup & Saucer set at ₹599 stacks the same way the tumblers do, and the Chai Hour Cane-Handle Ceramic Kettle at ₹1,999 in Yellow Tile or Pink Tile can come to the table instead of the steel pan. There is more on putting a whole table together in our guide to table settings with handmade ceramics.
Washing up, which is the part that decides whether you use it again
All of this is hand wash, with a soft sponge and mild soap. None of it is dishwasher safe. The ceramics are microwave safe unless the piece has metal parts, so dal that needs reheating can go back in its bowl. Avoid sudden changes in temperature, so no straight-from-the-fridge raita into a bowl that has just come out of hot water. Glassware takes the same rule, plus no abrasive scourers on the ribbed surfaces.
Small variations in glaze and form come with the making, not against it. Our full guide to caring for handmade ceramics covers the deeper cleaning, and the ceramic serveware buying guide is the place to start if you are choosing between body types rather than patterns.
Diwali falls on 8 November this year, with Dhanteras on 6 November, and the tables that look best on the night are usually the ones assembled a few weeks earlier, used once at an ordinary Sunday lunch, and adjusted. Browse the full ceramics collection or the glassware if you are filling gaps.
Common questions
Do you sell a complete thali set?
No. We do not make a thali tray with fitted katoris, and we would rather say so than sell you something under that name that is not one. What we have is dinner plates, small serving dishes, larger shared bowls and glasses, which together do the same job. The advantage is that each piece earns its place on ordinary days too.
What is the closest thing you have to a katori?
The Crosshatch Square Ceramic Serving Dish at ₹599 and the triangle serving dishes at ₹699 are the small bowls we would use for dal, raita and sabzi. They are not round and they do not nest into a tray, but they hold the same kind of portion and they sit neatly beside a dinner plate.
How many small bowls should I plan per person?
Two if the meal is a dal, a sabzi and rotis. Three once you add raita or a sweet. Beyond three, the table starts to feel crowded unless you move some of it to shared dishes in the middle, which is usually the better answer anyway.
Can any of this go in the microwave?
Yes, the ceramics can, unless the piece has metal parts. None of it is dishwasher safe, so wash by hand with a soft sponge and mild soap.
Will four plates of the same design match each other exactly?
Not exactly, and that is worth knowing before they arrive. The hand-painted pieces, like the Leher Stripe plates, vary from one to the next because the lines are painted by hand rather than printed. Glaze pools differently at the rim from piece to piece. Small variations in glaze and form are part of the handmade process.
How much should I budget for a full festive table?
A simple place setting of a dinner plate, two small dishes and a glass comes to ₹2,496 at current prices. A fuller one with a larger bowl runs to ₹3,196. Add a shared centre of a snack plate, a salad bowl and a serving dish for ₹2,797, and four people are seated properly for a little over fifteen thousand rupees, with shipping free.
