There are a lot of occasions to celebrate: weddings, birthdays, and Mothers Day! I’m planning a brunch for all the local relatives this month. Here’s the menu so far. Any suggestions?
APPETIZERS:
fresh fruit smoothies
stuffed mushrooms
ciabatta bread with a ricotta cheese and peach jam spread
mini quiches
MAIN COURSE:
store-bought parathas
keema
aloo tarkari
chicken skewers (chicken with tomatoes, green peppers, and onions)
corn, avocado, and bean salad (seasoned with lemon juice, salt, pepper)
mozarella, grape tomotoes, and cucumbers on toothpicks, drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette.
spinach orzo
some mattar chawal for the kiddies
DESSERT/TEA
my world famous flan
baked brie
fruit
cakes (for newly weds and birthday peeps to cut)
oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
I was also thinking about making gajre for all the mamas. Any other suggestions? There’ll be about 40 people who are 18+ and then about 10 kids.
^I’d come for the appetizers alone, they sound delicious and I like that you’ve included items that are not served often.
As for the chicken kabobs…I prefer chicken tikkas. Keep them. This may sound like strange reasoning, but you already have keema on your list…and chicken kababs are basically solidified keema. I know, it sounds weird. But I say keep the tikkas…it has more oomph!
^Unless you wanna make like small kababs and put out buns…so the kids can assemble hamburgers? Or maybe do a simple pasta dish (mac n cheese, for example) for the kids? I guess it’s because wasn’t really into matar chawal as a kid…or even now as an adult. Just a suggestion. Overall, I like the menu, it steps away from the usual all-desi dishes. :k:
I would love to have you guys over!! I’ll post some of my tried and true recipes now:
Stuffed Mushrooms (adapted from Mouth-Watering Stuffed Mushrooms Recipe):
24 baby mushrooms
1 pack of 8oz cream cheese
1 tbsp minced garlic
1/4 grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp chilli powder or paprika
a bit of chopped green onion
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray (I use muffin trays to help keep the mushrooms in place). Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully break off stems. Chop stems extremely fine, discarding tough end of stems.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and chopped mushroom stems to the skillet. Fry until any moisture has disappeared, taking care not to burn garlic. Set aside to cool.
When garlic and mushroom mixture is no longer hot, stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, black pepper, chopped green onion and chili pepper. Mixture should be very thick. Using a little spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of stuffing. Arrange the mushroom caps on prepared cookie sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the mushrooms are piping hot and liquid starts to form under caps.
Baked Brie:
Really simple. Get a full circle of brie. Cut it in half horizontally (so you now have two circles, rather than one). Spread a little apricot jam on one circle and sprinkle with nuts (walnuts or pecans are best). Cover with the other circle. Wrap in puff pastry dough (I use the dough for the Pillsbury Crescents) on a nonstick baking sheet. Sprinkle the top with a few more nuts and some honey, to create a soft glaze. Bake at 375 for like 15-20min. Until it gets golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Voila! You can also make it savory by changing the filling (I’ve made it with pesto as well as an olive tapenade).
My World Famous Flan (I loved the amazingly creamy flan at a local tapas restaurant called Jaleo; did a little google search and found the recipe online! I’ve tweaked and here’s the recipe):
Mix the following ingredients together well – 1/2 cup of sugar, 4 eggs, 2 cups of half-and-half, 2 cups of heavy cream, 1tsp vanilla
Pour mixture into a caramelized oven-safe dish. To caramelize the dish, melt some sugar in a frying pan. Keep it on a medium heat and keep an eye on it. It will turn golden-amber color. Pour the melted sugar into the base of the flan dish. Allow to cool, then add the flan mixture.
Put the flan dish in another dish that is filled with water. Bake at 300 degrees F for 2hrs (I use Pyrex or ceramic dishes, and this time/temperature work great for them; metal gets hotter, so you may have to tweak it a bit to avoid egginess).
Also, this is a brunch for a bunch of desi people and families. So the likelihood that everyone will be on time is low. Do you think this is sufficient to fulfill lunch cravings?
If you do want to do something with kabobs you can do little kabobs in a blanket! It's a yummy twist to pigs in a blanket, I'm sure they will be a hit with the kids and are not that heavy either.
)… and especially your world famous flan.