Gourmet Appetizers

"Gourmet: (adj.) of or characteristic of a gourmet, esp. in involving or purporting to involve high-quality or exotic ingredients and skilled preparation." - Infoplease Dictionary.

Now that it is clear that a gourmet meal means that you will need to cook up some thing truly titillating to the palate of the fine epicures or gourmands who are about to flock your house in the nearest future, an appetizer is something that'll help to rouse that hunger and warm up the taste buds before the real bingeing round starts. You can really look up a few gourmet appetizers to order such as wild mushroom gorgonzola, coconut shrimp, pecan filo triangle and salmon and pistachio brochette. But, common sense shall tell you that not only will you be doling out huge amounts of green paper when you can save so much if you cook at home, but your guests can eat hotel food anytime they want! If they are visiting you then unconsciously they will expect to eat something you have churned out yourself. And accept it, there's no greater pleasure that the one you feel when everybody unanimously hails you as the culinary diva! So let us start with simple and easy gourmet appetizer recipes and then move on to those which require a tad more effort.

Easy Gourmet Appetizers

These gourmet appetizers for parties are pretty filling and so they will buy you sometime to finish cooking the main course before your guests start feeling hungry for dinner.

Chicken Satays
This is one of the most successful quick appetizers for kids which my cousin often makes when her son calls his friends over. All you need to do for this is first make a marinade of ginger-garlic paste, coriander, soy sauce, lime juice, some oil and sugar, salt and pepper for seasoning. Now, dice chicken into 2" cubes and place them into the marinade for approximately 2 hours. Now, thread the marinated cubes into satay sticks and grill, basting with the reserved marinade occasionally.

Pita Bread with Hummus
When mortals asked for recipes of quick appetizers to make, God gave them hummus! To make the Lebanese hummus, submerge chickpeas in water for at least 10 hours and then drain the water. Next, pressure cook them until tender and finally place them in a mixer with olive oil, lime juice and garlic. When you get a smooth consistency, the dip is ready and can be served with hot ready-made pita bread or crackers.

Stuffed Eggs
For this you'll need to hard boil eggs, shell and then lengthwise cut them into exact halves. Take small potatoes and boil them as well. Remember that the ratio of the number of eggs and potatoes should be 3:2. Now, remove the egg yolks and mash it with the boiled and softened potatoes. Next heat some oil in a cooking pan and throw in some finely chopped onions and saut till they are golden brown. Now add chopped tomatoes and cumin powder, a tiny bit mustard powder and some pepper to season and stir. Note that you use the same number of onions and tomatoes as the potatoes. When it's all well mlanged, add the mash to it and mix rather thoroughly. Now make tiny balls out of this mash and fill the egg white cavities with it.

Cocktail Sausages
Heat some olive oil in a frypan and then throw in some chilies, chopped tomatoes and minced garlic and saut lightly until it emanates its distinct aroma. Then add the halved sausage into it and saut till they are done as well coated. Turn off the flame and cover the frypan for like 10 minutes so that the sausages can seep in all the flavors of the accompaniments. Then thread these sausages into toothpicks and servez!

Non-vegetarian Gourmet Appetizers

Fried Prawn with Mango Salsa
Say you have a gathering of 12 close friends coming over. So, take like 24 giant prawns and marinate it with gratings from two coconuts for around 60 minutes. Now heat oil in a deep pot and deep-fry the prawns and set aside on some tissues. Now for the salsa, heat 2 tablespoons worth of oil in a pan and to that add 2 teaspoons of crushed white mustard seeds, an equal amount of hot pepper and chives and some chili flakes and saut. Now add the pulp of 2 ripe mangoes to the fried spices, and blend well. Then pour this onto a jar containing 100 ml of mango juice and whip until you get a good, uniform and thick consistency. Pierce two prawns each in a satay stick, sprinkle some herbs on them and serve with the salsa! You know what is the best thing about this recipe? It is one of those make-ahead appetizer recipes which you can make just before your guests arrive and give your entire time to your invitees without having to face the stove while they are there.

Patta Tikka
This is a traditional Pakistani dish made from mutton liver. You'll need to borrow a tandoor oven from someone. Say you have a kilo of mutton liver which you have to make into 2" cubes and marinate with 15 grams of salt. Cook this in the tandoor oven for 7 - 10 minutes and remove. Next you'll need to keep 800 grams of mutton fat handy and coat these chunks in fat and then reenter them into the tandoor till the fat is all smooth and cooked. Serve hot with some mint condiment.

Mahi Tikka Ajwaini
Take 600 grams of boneless sole fish cut into bite sized chunks and immerse them into a mixture of 25 ml vinegar and 25 grams of ginger-garlic paste for like 10 - 15 minutes. Then remove and dry the fish. In another vessel, whisk together 100 grams of gram flour, 30 grams of corn flour, 120 grams of yogurt, an egg, 40 ml oil, 5 grams red chili powder, 3 grams each of carom seeds and Indian garam masala, 2 grams dried fenugreek, juice from a lemon, and salt. When you get a smooth paste, submerge the fish pieces in the paste for 30 minutes and then pierce the chunks with skewers. Slow grill them. When they are partially cooked, baste them with oil and then roast them until they are completely done. Serve with salad and condiments.

(Tip: Grilling on a charcoal grill will give these tikkas a distinct smoked flavor to add that Oriental touch.)

Gourmet Vegetarian Appetizers

Vegetable Cakes
Now for this I will give you fixed proportions which you can increase as per your convenience. Take 800 grams mixed veggies by the likes of cabbage, cauliflower, green peas, and carrot, and boil them until soft. Boil potatoes separately, then skin and mash it well with the boiled veggies. Now to this add minced coriander and green chilies, 2 tablespoons corn flour, a few pinchfuls soda, and salt to taste. Now make individual round flat patties from the mash and deep-fry in some canola oil and voila! Serve with some salad and salsa! One of the best easy party appetizers that even a child can make.

Crisp Cheesy Potatoes
Since, I have made this gourmet appetizer only for small groups I can give you steady measurements for this as well. Increase or decrease according to the number of invitees you got. So, if you take four medium-sized boiled potatoes, skin them and then lengthwise cut them into halves. Next, use a spoon to make a cavity in the center of each potato half. Now to the scooped out potato, add 300 grams grated processed cheese, cup coriander, 8 minced green chilies, along with teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Knead into a smooth mixture and then fill the bowl like potatoes with the mash. See to it that you flatten the filled side, dust it with some flour and place it on a pan with heated butter in it. Place the potatoes with the filled side facing downwards and allow it to brown on a very low but steady flame. Then turn the filled potatoes to cook it all over to get a wholesome golden tinge and then serve with any condiment of your choice. Mmmmmmmmmm will be the reaction that you'll get.

So people, now you have 9 terrific gourmet appetizers for a crowd, which evidently make ample use of exotic spices but at the same time aren't that exhausting to make. So, try out these gourmet appetizer ideas soon and let me know your success stories rather soon. Cheerio!