Delicious Finger Foods

The savouries,better known  as short eats or finger foods  have  become the central  itinerary at large and small parties.They  are included  in every menu and  at every occasion.Savouries can be served hot or cold and usually served as starters.We give prominence to them at  tea parties,birthday parties ,family get to-gethers and picnics.Whenever my children invite their friends over,they prefer to serve savouries to them. And I am one happy mom ,who enjoys making them.The most popular at home are cutlets,pastries,buns and sandwiches.

savouries served at a recent get together  at home

Savouries I prepared for my son's birthday

Served during the festive season

Maalu paan or fish buns

My savoury recipes can be found here;

Tuna fish and potato cutlet

Savoury rounds

Hummus And Tahini Dip

This is a popular dish in the Middle East; more frequently used as a dip. This goes well with Pitta bread.

• 1 cup chickpeas
• 3 cups of water
• 1/2 a cup of Tahini
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons of parsley; minced well
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of chili powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

Soak the peas for 12 hours. Boil well. Keep aside a few for garnishing. Blend the chickpeas with salt, pepper, tahini, garlic and half of the chopped parsley. Add lemon juice. This paste should be thick and very smooth. Pour it into a dish with olive oil. Garnish with the remaining chickpea and parsley.

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Eating Dips and Salads

Eid festival has come and gone however all of us are still in the festive mood as everyone is on holiday. And all are less bothered to follow the usual routine. Everyone at home were doing their own thing in a leisurely manner. The children were even eating the meals at different timing. Last evening I was too lethargic to do anything. I tried to avoid going into the kitchen too. My husband decided to take us out to the mall, so that the sons would have some sort of entertainment. And he suggested we have dinner at the food court there. By the time we decided to eat, the food court was packed to capacity. There were no empty tables and chairs. Even the most sought after restaurants in the mall were packed. Everyone was too hungry to patiently wait till a table was cleared. Finally we decided to order take-away and eat at home. The children wanted burgers and fries. We bought some vegetable noodles for the vegetarian daughter. But I decided to order only some appetizers/starters as I was too tired to eat a heavy meal. I ordered a platterful of different dips and salads. Dips like Humus, Thahini, eggplant dip, corn and parsley salad and a portion of coleslaw. It was a serving for about four people. It was packed with Kubz, a kind of flat bread that I used as a spoon to dip and shovel the salads into my mouth.

Curried Zucchini

We usually eat our vegetables curried. And all the vegetables are cooked in the same way. I have never eaten Zucchini back at home but once I came to the Middle East I started seeing more and more of these greens, which looks so much like the 'cooler' gherkins. At first I started using them in soups and as time went by, I experimented it with various other dishes. Soon we all got acquainted with this wondrous vegetable. And that's when I started cooking it with spices, herbs and coconut cream.

Cut 2-3 Zucchini into small pieces and put into a pan, with a cup of water, one small sliced onion, one chopped green chilly, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder, 1/4 teaspoon of curry powder, one clove of chopped garlic, a slice of green ginger, 2-3 crushed curry leaves and salt to taste, boil until the vegetable is cooked. Then add a tablespoon of coconut milk powder and stir quickly so that no lumps form. Heat 1/2 a tablespoon of oil in another pan and fry the onions till it becomes quite pale in colour. Then transfer the fried onions (with the oil) to the cooked vegetable pan. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve with rice and curry.

Fun With Food

From time to time my email inbox gets filled with forwards sent to me by friends ,family and others.Some I don't even open if the sender is unknown.A few others I read. If I find those amusing, I chuckle out loud bringing the whole clan running into the computer room,probably wondering what ever had got into me. Still there are a few which I have neatly kept intact in a folder because of their uniqueness.These few had somehow found the way into my heart or should I say stomach?. I was amazed when I saw some pictures which were sent my way via email.They looked so delicious and good . I am so tempted to endow this artist, who I may never know, with words of praise for putting in a lot of effort ,to carve beautiful characters out of food.