Round up - Bon Vivant #5 - Appetizers/ Starters

Thank you all once again for dropping in at my space. Thanks to all who have sent in such wonderful recipes. There were so many varieties that can be served as appetizers that it's unbeliveable. Check out this wonderful spread of Bon Vivant.

Orange Fruit Dip

Here is one of the recipes that I learnt from a girl who had got this orange fruit dip for a party at my son's Tae Kwando class.  It's very common for fruits to be served with a dip as a starter around here. I hardly taste these dips that go along with the fruit trays. Why ruin a perfectly sweet fruit right?

At this particular party he came over to ask if I tried this dip and boy it was amanzing. I couldn't guess what was in it. Then I walked over to the girl who got it and asked her for the recipe. She gladly shared it. I made this for my party at home and it was an instant hit. Fruit dip was gone before the fruits. :o)

Here is a party stopper recipe for you.

Prep Time: 5 min| Makes: About 3 cups

Ingredients:

Marshmallow Creme - 7 oz
Whipped Cream cheese - 8 oz tub
Orange zest - of 1 orange.
Orange juice – 2 tbsp.

Method of Preparation:

~ Mix Marshmallow Creme and cream cheese together.
~ Add orange juice and it's zest to the mix.
~ Serve it along side of fruit tray. Goes best with Strawberries. Sending this to my event Bon Vivant #5 - Starters/ Appetizers

French Beans with Artichoke Hearts

Ok. I heart this dish! I created this because there were two big bags of French Beans sitting in my fridge. I didn’t wanted to do beans subzi (just pure laziness of not wanting to cut the beans!!) Also they don’t come out great as would do with Indian style of beans. Then I remembered crispy green beans fry at TGIF. It was super tasty, but I wasn’t going to calorie load my green beans! Then peeking into pantry I eyed Artichoke hearts. I thought “Why not?” and started putting stuff together. It turned out super delicious with fresh taste of beans intact. Try it out and let me know if you liked it as much as we all did. This can be served as an appetizer or as a side to rice and daal.

Serves: 6 | Prep Time: 5 min. | Cooking Time: 15 min.

Ingredients:

French beans     – 1 Lb. (About 2 ½ cups)

Artichoke Hearts – 1 can

Onion               – 1 small (About ½ cup. Finely chopped)

Garlic               – 1 tbsp. (Finely chopped)

Cumin seeds     – ½ tsp.

Chinese Chili Garlic Paste – 2 tsp.

Olive Oil           – 2 tsp.

Salt                 – to taste

 Method of Preparation:

~ Heat a pot of water with salt to bring it to boil (around 4 cups).

~ Wash and trim the ends of beans. Cut them two inch long.

~ Put them in the boiling water and cook for about 7 minutes on high. (Until the raw smell of the beans goes away and little froth starts around the beans and settle in 2 minutes.) Do not overcook and make the beans soggy.

~ Drain the water and immediately rinse the beans with a cup of cold water. Keep it aside.

~ Drain the water from Artichoke hearts and fill it up with cold water. Keep it aside. (This takes out some of the vinegar in the artichokes. I washed and filled water twice.)

~ Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds and garlic. Sauté for few seconds.

~ Add finely chopped onions and fry until onion starts to turn pink.

~ Add chili garlic paste. Sauté until everything blends in.

~ Drain the water out of artichoke & coarsely chop them. Add it to the fried onions.

~ Add salt and continue to cook for another 3 to 4 min. Switch off the heat.

 

~ Arrange the drained green beans in a serving dish. Evenly pour the onion/artichoke mix on top of the beans. Cover the serving dish with foil or plate. Let them hang out for at least 15 to 30 minutes.

~ Mix them well and serve it warm.

Tips:

French beans have less thread on the side than the green beans. So just trimming the edges is sufficient.

You can use microwave to cook beans, but sometime they tend to get collapsed if done on high.

On the side lines:

Asked my DH to give a name for this dish, so I can post it. He thought immensely for few minutes and said “Beans with Artichoke?” :o)

Aloo Papdi Chaat

Papdi chaat is great comfort food. I had a different kind of presentation of papdi chaat at my friend Shweta’s house a few years back. Instead of serving in bowls, she had separately arranged each flat puris. I liked that idea since it can be served as an appetizer. Whenever I have made trays of this, it’s gone in minutes at parties.

Serves: 10 | Prep Time: 20 min. | Cooking Time: for potatoes

Ingredients:

·         Flat puris – 1 packet (Contains about 50 to 60 puris, available in Indian stores)

·         Thin Sev – 1½ cup

·         Onion – 1 cup (thinly chopped)

·         Tomato – 1 cup (thinly chopped)

·         Potatoes – 2 cups (Boiled, peeled and cubed)

·         Green Chutney – 2 tbsp.

·         Tamarind Chutney – 2 tbsp.

·         Coriander leaves to garnish.

·         Thick yogurt – ½ cup

·         Chaat Masala Powder – ½ tsp.

·         Red Chili powder – ½ tsp.

·         Salt to taste for yogurt

Method of Preparation:

~  Add Chaat masala, Chili powder and salt to yogurt and mix them.

~  Arrange flat puris in a tray.

~  Now top all the puris with tiny bits of potato and then Onion.

~  Spoon over little bit of yogurt mixture on each and then put green and tarmarind chutney on top.

Almost ready to top it off with Sev

~  Now add tomatoes. Garnish the generously with sev and some coriander leaves.

~  This will easily stay up to 4 hours (if not over by then) without getting soggy.

Sending this is Ayeesha's Anyone can cook series.