5 Easy Starters
Don’t we all love the idea of an easy starter, something tasty and simple to put together with a minimum of effort?
The mere mention of guests dropping in has me thinking – ‘what snacks do I serve, what ingredients do I have at home?’ That’s our famed Indian hospitality in overdrive! Here, I’m sharing a few surefire winners that you can serve when you are short on time.
Ingredients:
2 cups firm yoghurt, preferably hung curd
2 cloves of garlic, well crushed into a fine paste
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp Colmans mustard
Method:
- Ensure that all the water is drained out of the curd.
- Mix the garlic, honey and mustard into the curd and blend well with a spoon.
- Serve the dip with old-fashioned salted chips.
Ingredients:
250 gms homemade paneer
A bunch of coriander leaves and stems
2 green chilies
Juice of one lime
A tsp of garlic paste
Salt to taste
Method:
- Grind the ingredients in a food processor.
- This mixture can be served as a dip.
- Alternatively, wrap the mixture in a cling film and shape it into a log shape and leave to chill in the refrigerator for about an hour or two.
- Slice into circles and serve on Monaco salt biscuits.
Recipe courtesy my classmate – Anita George.
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp butter
- A box of fresh mushrooms cleaned well and chopped fine
- 2 green chilies chopped
- 1 onion chopped fine
- 1 cup of white sauce made with one tbsp butter, one tbsp flour and one teacup milk.
- A small loaf of bread
Method:
- Sauté the onion and green chilies in butter until the onion turns pink.
- Add the mushrooms and fry until the water dries out.
- Make the white sauce. Melt one tbsp of butter in a small saucepan and add the flour to it, fry on a low flame until the raw smell disappears. Add the cup of milk, removing from the fire and stirring continuously to ensure there are no lumps. Return to the flame until the mixture forms a sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add the mushroom mixture to the white sauce.
- Cut the edges of the bread slices. Quarter each slice and pile the mushroom mixture on top of the pieces and serve.
Ingredients:
4 large tomatoes chopped into small pieces
1 clove garlic finely chopped
2 cloves garlic whole (to rub across the toasted bread)
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup basil leaves chopped
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 baguette cut into ½ inch slices (around 14 pieces).
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
- In a bowl, mix the tomatoes, chopped garlic, olive oil, basil leaves and balsamic vinegar.
- Season with salt and pepper.
- Toast bread in the oven in a single layer until golden brown.
- Take out of the oven and scrape the garlic along the top.
- Generously top with the tomato mixture.
- Drizzle a bit of olive oil before serving immediately.
Note: Readymade rusks can be heated in the oven lightly for 5 minutes and substituted in place of the bread.
5.
Ingredients:
15 chicken wings
3 tbsp honey
½ cup tomato ketchup
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tsp garlic paste
2 tsp olive oil
2 tbsps white sesame seeds for sprinkling
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180-degree C.
- Use a sharp knife to cut each wing into half at the joint.
- Place in a large bowl.
- Add the remaining ingredients, except the sesame seeds. Toss to coat evenly. Season with pepper.
- Place in a large roasting tin and roast for little over an hour until golden brown and sticky.
- Sprinkle sesame seeds over the wings and serve immediately.
Recipe courtesy – The Friday magazine