Party Dishes to Make Your Guests Lick Their Fingers.

Having party is something my family is fond of, but they prefer curry, biryani etc for food. Kebab as starters. Although these are good examples but I wanted something different. For the last four years, I introduced them to the finger foods for serving as an appetiser or having a finger food party. We have parties all around the year. Ramadan aftar parties, kitty parties, birthday parties. Etc.

Instead of making separate projects for different recipes I though to give you four excellent finger food dishes to wow your guests over. So they remember you every time they are at a party.

So I am going to share with you

Tapioca fritters
5 ideas of canapés using Fric Bergen sauces ( budget friendly)
Bread pakora
Chicken drumsticks (lollipops)

8 or 9 years ago I made these fritters for an aftar party. They were an instant hit. They resemble a lot like Sabudana vada ( an Indian dish) but the texture and crispness is far different then vadas.

These fritters were more like an incidental success. Creating something from an ingredient considered ruined.

So what happened was that I soaked Tapioca pearl ( very small ones) a night before as a test try to make pancakes the next morning. Those pancakes never took place because I noticed my tapioca had whiteness in the water they were soaked in. I thought may be the soaked tapioca lost its shape. What I did was ( some thing totally careless) was to add more dry tapioca to the SAME water.

YES!! My aunt, as well as my grandma told me these are waste now. Old tapioca mixed with new, not worth eating. It’s better to throw them away.

I though I would try them for once.. may be just as a test try.

So later in the evening I mixed them with boiled leftover potatoes. Added some random spices. The colour was pale so I added some coriander leaves, green chili, red chili. Made them into a round oval patty.
Deep fried.
Cut open a fritter, but they were hot and taste like normal potato patty with a few gummy bits.
I thought at least not that bad for a ruined ingredient to actually get used.

I fried them all and without telling anyone placed them on a serving dish on a table.

Around 30 minutes later my uncle get home from work and he sees these patties and pops one in his mouth....

THAT WAS A GAME CHANGER!!!

He couldn’t stop him self from eating more and more.

The texture was of super Crispy outside and soft and crispy insides.

Step 1.....Science behind the crispness and ingredients

So what happened was that the sago I soaked overnight never lost its shape but was an old one so it kind of denatured. It was still a gel. But due to prolonged soaking (10+ hours )it reached a state it was no longer a ball shape. More like a little gooey.
The tapioca I added the other morning accidentally was soaked for like 4-5 hours (as I made those fritters in the evening) they hold there shape. Hence the balls in the fritters. These balls and gooeyness were then mixed in the potatoes and spices. Due to deep frying, hot oil caused them to get crisp where as potatoes remained soft within the patty.

Ingredients (makes 12 golf sized balls)
2 medium potatoes
1/2 cup tapioca
Juice of 2 lemons
1tb peanut butter crunchy. ( for in-depth flavour)

Spices
I added a mixture of following spices ( equal amounts)
Red chili
Mango powder
Roasted cumin powder
Chaat masala
Black salt
Salt
Coriander powder

Step 2....Separate your tapioca in two portions

Soak half of your tapioca 24 hours prior to cooking.
And soak the other half 6-8 hours prior to cooking.

For the potato mixture.
Mix them 2-5 hours prior to cooking. Make sure your boiled potatoes are fully cooled down before adding lemon juice, spices and peanut butter.

Now 2 hours before u serve you party dishes. Water your both Tapioca in a strainer TOGETHER. Mix them in the potatoes mixture. Adjust the spices, sourness.

Make patties, balls, squares any shape you desire and fry these babies.
DON’T serve them hot. Let them cool down a bit. Serving warm is fine too. Crispness is achieved when they are little to no warm.

Want to please a crowd? Make canapés using Fric Bergen assorted sauces and dips.

Recently my husband asked his friends for aftar party and requested me to make canapés for his friends.
Canapés were something I was pretty fond of but knowing my family too well, they only liked something that had chicken or meat on top. Making canapés from chicken and meat was a good idea but I was a little skeptical about the sauce. Ketchup and mayo was just not the answer. I knew I had to order some sauces over on amazon. So I begun my search for mayonnaise and dips and well came across FRIC BERGEN.

THERE WAS AN ASSORTED PACKET OF 7 sauces for 70 rupees

Fric Bergen, is a company that produces mayonnaise-based sauces, including tandoori mayo, eggless mayo and mint mayo, and makes them available for sale in single-serve sachets priced at Rs 10.

While I was living in New Delhi back in (2016) I did tried their normal mayo sachet and pizza pasta one. Both were a hit, they were cheap and were enough for 2 servings.

I ordered the assorted packet. It was a HIT.

You need
Kidney beans
Guacamole
Beef meatballs
Chicken chunks uncooked
Apples/banana
Peanut butter
Pizza Cheese
Sliced onions
Sliced jalapeños
Sliced cucumber/ pickled cucumber
Chopped bell pepper
I used 5 sauces from assorted pack.
Crackers


Heat 1tb oil
Add chicken chunks, some black pepper, salt, garlic paste. Fry until soft and light browned. Don’t press else they will loose there juice.

Apply all sauces column wise on all crackers

1. Coriander Mint mayonnaise

For this recipe I opted for two meats and vegetables garnish.

Place meat ball on the right, chicken chunks on the left. Add onions and bell pepper green.

2.Salsa dip.

Don’t skip guacamole
Add guacamole
Black beans boiled, green jalapeños

3. & 4. Tandoori mayonnaise / sandwich spread.

Top it with chicken chunks, onions and bell peppers.

5. Pasta and pizza sauce

Add meat balls and chicken chunks.
Add oregano.
Add lots of pizza cheese

This recipe is the most closest to my heart because it was a dish I ate at a friend’s bachelor party and I spent days trying to master it.

It’ a crowd pleaser. Definitely worth trying recipe. Finger licking good food. The best part is that you can refry them by lightly recoating it in the same batter.

You need

For marination
8 chicken legs ( drumstick style)
2 tb Vinegar
2 tsp Chinese salt.


Marinate for 2 hours minimum.

For frying batter
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp white pepper fresh crushed
2 whole eggs ( 2-3 egg whites)
2 medium onion chopped
6 large jalapeño (green chillies)
1tsp cornflour/cornstartch


Marinate the chicken, set aside.
Mix rest of the ingredients in a bowl ( excluding cornflour) set aside.


Dip the chicken drumsticks in the batter ( add very very little water if the batter is very very thick. If whole eggs will be used less water will be used)
Deep fry in oil ( temperature 150 degree Celsius) on a medium low flame until cooked from inside.

If someone has issue about egg smell, substitute whole eggs with egg whites.

Perfect party snack for birthday parties or bachelor party. Even anything party would work.

Ingredients

Bread slices 6

For batter

Gram flour 2 cups
Salt 1/2 tsp
Baking soda a pinch

Stuffing

Potatoes boiled 3 large
Onion 1 chopped
Green chillies 2-3
Salt 1tsp
Red chili powder 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder 1 pinch
Coriander powder 1tsp
Cumin powder 1tsp
Ginger garlic powder / paste 1tsp is powder 1/2 if paste each
Mango powder dried 1tsp
Garam masala 1tsp
Cottage cheese sliced optional
Lemon juice 2 tbs


Mix the stuffing in a bowl. Apply to bread slices. Sandwich them and cut in quarters.

Mix the batter except baking soda.. Wait 10 minutes for the batter to incorporate. While to wait make sure your oil is hot enough (160-170 degree Celsius) Add baking soda to batter and fry away. See the pictures for tips and tricks of how I do it.
I let the extra batter drop off with help of a spider. And use spider to lower the pakoras into the oil.