7 replies to this topic

[Gypsy]

Can you guys please give me some suggestions on party foods. By party foods I mean something like chips, salsas, guacamole, spinach dips or something more elaborate. I am bored cooking the same old thing, and I want something new.

[~RuQaYaH~]

Great topic sis! I am holding a surprise birthday party for my sister on friday so this will be helpful to me too . If it's a kids party you could go for the typical mini sausage rolls and party pies....for adolescents or an older crowd you could do stuff like all sorts of mini sandwiches (can put all different kinds of stuff on them - salmon, cheese, beef rashes, olives, greens)....you could do different kinds of salads like pasta salads aswell as green salads....you could also have things like samosas, mini lebanese pizzas ('lahme bajan'), spring rolls and so on.

And then ofcourse there's the less heavy stuff like carrot and celery sticks with nice dips (some good dips are hommus, guacamole)....one of my personal favourites is tzatziki (it's a greek dip made of yoghurt and cucumber) with ritz biscuits. You could have cheese platters with different kinds of cheeses (eg: blue cheese, cheddar cheese etc) and different kinds of crackers. You could also have fruit platters with things like watermelon, strawberries, cherries, rockmelon, orange slices etc etc. You could also do chocolate dipped strawberries, they are always fantastic and a big hit. Hope you find some of these suggestions useful!

wasalaam

[Gypsy]

There will be some kids coming to the party but they are young. So, I would need to think about them.

I'll be making all the main dishes and dessert. I am not worried about the main menu and dessert because I already know what I am going to serve. Now it is just a matter of execution.

I can call up the local middle eastern restaurant and get some side dishes from them like Hummus, baba ghanoush, tabouli. I already have the hummus ready for the party. I don't plan to serve that many middle eastern dishes.

In birthday parties, I have seen people serving chicken nuggets. They get a box of ready made chicken nuggets from the local grocery store. And on the day of the party, they line up the chicken on the baking tray and put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes. I don't really like frozen or ready made food. Otherwise, I would have gotten some ready made samosas.

Thanks for the mini sandwich idea. I like it. I'll keep that in mind. I was thinking of serving a cheese platter with crackers and olives. This will require very little work from my side. I'll probably have one of these and not both.

As for the salad, you can have coleslaw, potato or pasta salad. I have seen all three being served in some parties. I am thinking of putting something like a salad bar with dressings and let my guest make their own salad. What do you think?

I have seen vegetable tray in grocery stores. I was thinking to grab a few trays from the store.

I know tzatziki. It is a cucumber yogurt sauce. We put the sauce in our gyro. I guess we can serve it with toasted pita bread or biscuits.

Your suggestions are great. I'll probably make a fruit platter on the day of the party. I would probably need to get some candies too.

BTW, what do you serve as starch? Bread, rice or potatoes? I'll probably have rice and pita.

Edited by Gypsy, 30 January 2012 - 10:40 AM.

[Ali_Hussain]

Have you ever heard of 'rice krispi cakes'? They are quite easy to make, you get some rice krispies, melt some chocolate - some say it is better if it a sticky chocolate, like rolo, but it can be done with any chocolate really. Mix it all up, then seperate them out into those little things you make small buns in ('cup cakes'), put in the fridge, then when they are nice and cool and stuck together, they are ready to serve.

This is how they should look - (minus the the odd looking white stuff on top)




(edit: I have never really made these, but I think that is how it is done - it isn't rocket science)

Edited by Ali_Hussain, 30 January 2012 - 11:11 AM.

[lalala123]

Channa chaat!!  No party (asian party, anyway) is complete without chana chaat.

http://www.sailusfoo...6/channa-chaat/

We add potato in, too.  You can also make a bit of imbli (tamarind) sauce to go with it.  Delish..

[Gypsy]

Thanks Lalala, I may not be able to serve Chick peas because I am going to serve hummus and chips/bread. Maybe next time when I am not serving hummus, I can probably serve chick peas. So you serve chick peas with tamarind sauce and potatoes? That sounds easy.

Ali Hussain, I know the rice krispi cakes. That is something very common in parties. I am going to serve oat cookie that looks almost like the rice krispi in your picture.

The other thing I am not serving this time is shrimp cokctail. Too common.

Do you guys like eggs deviled? I am thinking to serve them at the party but I don't know if South Asian and Middle Eastern like this dish...

[Replicant]

Plenty of ideas here:
http://www.bbcgoodfo...eywords=canapes

[hameedeh]

Gypsy, on 30 January 2012 - 04:04 PM, said:

Do you guys like eggs deviled? I am thinking to serve them at the party but I don't know if South Asian and Middle Eastern like this dish...

Sister, the people from South Asia that I know add a few drops of their favorite hot sauce when they are stirring up the filling.
Not only does it make it a little spicy, it also makes the yellow filling kind of reddish.
If some of your guests don't like hot sauce, just make half of them with hot sauce.
They will probably know which ones are hot and which ones are not.