All posts filed under: Appetizers

Mexican Personal Boards

Personal Mexican Boards

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Mexican Personal Boards — adorable and perfect for entertaining, these boards feature a sweet potato black bean taco and avocado tartare! Endlessly customizable, I love showcasing fresh flavors in these boards for a fun appetizer! WATCH HOW TO MAKE PERSONAL MEXICAN BOARDS: For our sweet potato and black bean taco, we’ll caramelize our onions with garlic and green chili. Add in black beans or you can even use rajma and then boiled sweet potato. Mash this until it gets a coarse texture. Now go in with some corn, spices, roasted cumin, oregano, salt, lemon juice, and soy sauce for depth. Give this a gentle mix and finish with some cilantro and breadcrumbs for that binding. Shape these into tikkis and pan fry until golden brown and crisp. On the other side pan fry some small tortillas until also golden brown. Now to assemble our boards, we’ll add our tortilla, along with some mixed greens, chipotle aioli, our tikki, some more aioli and a few other garnishes like pickled onions and chilies. For our avocado tartare, …

Bang Bang Corn Fritters-Corn Pakodas in Korean Sauce

Bang Bang Corn Fritters – Corn Pakodas

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Bang Bang Corn Fritters (Pakodas) — light and crisp, these addictive corn fritters are tossed in a spicy Korean sauce! Topped with green onions and toasted sesame seeds, this appetizer is the best crowd pleaser! WATCH HOW TO MAKE BANG BANG CORN FRITTERS: We’ll start by cutting our fresh corn from the cob and to this we’ll add ginger, garlic, red chilies, salt, and red chili powder. Keeping the flavors super bold but still simple for our sauce. To this, we’ll add besan, rice flour, oil, and spring onions. Mix this together with your hands, gently squeezing so the corn releases its moisture. Continue adding besan and rice flour, along with baking powder and water (if needed), until we get the perfect batter that will make sure these turn out super crisp! Fry these until golden brown and set aside. Be sure not to overcrowd the pan. For our Korean-inspired bang bang sauce, in goes gochujang, sesame oil, maple syrup, vinegar, and a little hot water. Give this a nice mix and add some toasted …

Rajasthani Stuffed Corn Baati

Stuffed Corn Baati

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Stuffed Corn Baati — perfect for the monsoon season, make use of in-season corn with this innovative twist on the Rajasthani classic dish! Baked to golden brown perfection and served with a generous drizzle of ghee and tomato peach chutney, this is a Rajasthani’s comfort food leveled up! WATCH HOW TO MAKE RAJASTHANI STUFFED CORN BAATI: Corn is in-season right now and I promise you this is the best way to use it this monsoon! We’ll give our corn kernels a quick pulse and set this aside. To make our baatis, we’ll add atta, suji, salt, ajwain, baking powder, and oil. Use your hands to knead this into a semi-soft dough. We’ll also add some yogurt to help with binding. You might need to add some water to help it come together but make sure you don’t make a very hard dough. Let this rest covered while we make the stuffing. In a pan, heat oil and add cumin seeds, hing, and corn and let this sauté. Add in ginger and green chili paste and …

Street Style Tawa Corn

Street Style Tawa Corn

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Street Style Tawa Corn — crispy and chatpata, this is the ultimate monsoon snack! With fresh corn, peanuts, and veggies tossed in an Indo-Chinese sauce, cozy up on a rainy afternoon with this and a cup of karak chai for all the vibes! WATCH HOW TO MAKE STREET STYLE TAWA CORN: We’ll start by boiling our corn until tender, making sure it’s still nice and crisp. Use a knife to gently remove the kernels from the cob. Now, heat some oil on a tawa and once hot, we’ll add to this corn, dried red chilies for heat, and paneer (or tofu). Give this a mix and in goes ginger garlic paste and boiled peanuts. Stir fry for a few minutes and add soy sauce, vinegar, chili paste, tomato paste, honey, ketchup, and chopped cilantro. Let this sauté for a few minutes until it’s all combined and now we’ll add in some fresh veggies. I’ve used red and green bell peppers along with onions. These add a lovely crunch and pop of color. Add some spices …

Mango Coconut Paneer Tikka

Mango Coconut Paneer Tikka

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Mango Coconut Paneer Tikka – smoky and charred, this refreshing, summer-inspired twist is one of my favorite ways to enjoy paneer tikka! The sweetness of the mango and richness of the coconut pair so well with the spices and make for the perfect combination of flavors! WATCH HOW TO MAKE MANGO COCONUT PANEER TIKKA: We’ll start by grabbing our beautiful in-season mangos. I’m using Indian alphonso here and blend this with ginger, green chilies, garlic, and coconut milk. Transfer this to a bowl and add in yogurt, red chili powder, cumin powder, amchur, kasuri methi, ajwain, salt, and a squeeze of lemon for some brightness. Now we’ll go in with some mustard oil and besan for binding. Give the marinade a mix and to this we’ll add onion, bell peppers, and paneer. I’ve used Amul’s malai paneer. Assemble your skewers and we’ll cook these half way on a pan just to ensure they get cooked from the inside. Then, roast these on an open flame for that beautiful char and smoky flavor. Garnish with a …

Mango Salsa Matra Chaat

Mango Salsa Matra Chaat

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Mango Salsa Matra Chaat — an innovative take on the classic Delhi street food, this is the ultimate summer dish! With chatpata vatana topped with a sweet and sour green chutney, mango salsa, and yogurt, there’s so much flavor and texture in this delicious dish! WATCH HOW TO MAKE MANGO SALSA MATRA CHAAT: For the salsa, we’ll dice some fresh mangoes and add in tomatoes, onions, chilies, garlic, and spices. Add a drizzle of olive oil along with some hot sauce, lemon juice, and cilantro, Give this a mix and it’s ready. Then, we’ll make a khatti meethi chutney that has all the ingredients of green chutney like mint and cilantro but with some tamarind for brightness. Add some ice cubes to preserve the super bright and vibrant color and give this a mix. For our matra, we’ll take boiled chana and aloo and add in our spices, green chilies, ginger juliennes, a squeeze of lemon juice, and our khatti meethi chutney. Give this a gentle mix and finish with some cilantro before assembling. We’ll …

Mixed Fruit Kanji Vada

Mixed Fruit Kanji Vada

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Mixed Fruit Kanji Vada — smoky and refreshing, elevate the classic holi dish with some fresh in-season lychee, strawberries, and oranges for a spring-inspired twist! With gut-healthy, fermented kanji that features mustard and an addictive tang paired with fluffy vadas, this is the ultimate dish to entertain with this time of year! WATCH HOW TO MAKE MIXED FRUIT KANJI VADA: We’ll start by grinding our yellow mustard, black mustard, and cumin seeds into a coarse powder. To this we’ll add salt, black salt, red chili powder, and water. Now we’ll let this kanji ferment for a day. For the vadas, take soaked moong dal and blend coarsely with ginger and green chili. To this, add some crushed spiced and give it a mix. Pour over a mustard oil tadka and definitely don’t miss this, this will totally take your vadas to a new level. Now we’ll fry the vadas until golden brown. I made these mini round ones but you can make the traditional flatter ones too. Now, we’ll transfer the vadas into salted hot …

Mexican Mango Dahi Puri

Mexican Mango Dahi Puri

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Mexican Mango Dahi Puri — refreshing and truly stunning, this is hands down the best chaat to make with mango season starting! With a Mexican-inspired chatpata filling that pairs so well with the sweeter notes of the mango, top this off with cilantro mint chutney, tamarind chutney, and bhujiya for the ultimate dish! WATCH HOW TO MAKE MEXICAN MANGO DAHI PURI: For our filling, I’m using some multicolor bell peppers, fresh mango, onions, green chilies for some heat, black beans (you can also use rajma), roasted corn, a mix of chatpata spices, and some chopped cilantro. Give this a mix and our fresh, spicy filling is ready! And now for the star of the dish! For the mango yogurt, mix together pureed fresh mangoes with some yogurt, sugar, and salt until smooth. Just look at how silky that texture is! When presenting, my favorite hack is to drizzle some fresh mango puree in a circular motion and then create a marbled effect using a toothpick for the most stunning design! Fill your puris with the …

Japanese Crispy Rice Balls Onigiri

Japanese Crispy Rice Balls

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Japanese Crispy Rice Balls — with a beautiful golden brown crust and creamy, spicy filling, these are the ultimate snack or appetizer! Coming together quickly and dressed up with some simple garnishes, these are both stunning to look at and bound to be a family favorite! WATCH HOW TO MAKE JAPANESE CRISPY RICE BALLS: We’ll start by washing our rice to remove the excess starch and you want the water to turn clear. I’ve used sushi rice here but you can use any short grain rice which makes this recipe so versatile with whatever you have on hand! Transfer this to a pot with some water and let this cook until nice and fluffy. For the filling, we’ll add crumbled paneer or sauteed tofu, bell peppers, cabbage, spring onions, some cream cheese, soy sauce, ginger garlic, sriracha, and sesame seeds. Give this a gentle mix and our filing is ready! In our cooked rice, we’ll add salt, sugar, and rice vinegar like they traditionally do for sushi. To form the rice balls, apply some water …

Chinese Bhel Wonton Cups

Chinese Bhel Wonton Cups

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Chinese Bhel Wonton Cups — crisped to golden brown perfection, this reimagined chinese bhel is a stunning appetizer to entertain with! Filled with crisp veggies and pan-fried paneer tossed in a sweet schezwan sauce and topped with chili oil, these are so effortless! WATCH HOW TO MAKE CHINESE BHEL WONTON CUPS: We’ll start by brushing a cupcake pan with some oil. Then, we’ll gently press our wonton wrappers into the molds to form these adorable little cupcakes shapes. Brush with a little more oil to make sure they get and even golden brown color. Then fill the cups with some dried beans as a weight to help them hold their shape as they bake. While they’re baking, we’ll make our filling by coating our paneer in salt, red chili powder, cornstarch for crispness, and aromatics. I’ve cut the paneer into circles for a pretty look but cubed works great too. Pan fry in some oil until they become golden brown and super crisp. For the Chinese bhel, we’ll add onions, bell peppers, green cabbage, carrots, …