--- The Cook Up with Adam Liaw airs weeknights on SBS Food from Monday April 19 at 7.00pm and 10.00pm, or stream it free on SBS On Demand. ---
What is it we love most about a party? Is it the company? The music? The decorations? Who are we kidding - we all know it's the food.
Party food is special. Not simply because most of it goes OTT on the requisite fat, sugar and salt combo. It's also because it's fun. Little sausage rolls for dipping; cheesy nachos for stretching; and don't get us started on those cute little quiches that come in a variety of flavours, all utterly divine.
In order to enjoy your party favourites more often, it helps to make healthier versions, or at least scale them down and add a giant green salad or plate otherwise laden with vegetables.
Here's how to do exactly that. Time to get your taste buds ready to dance!
Hot doggin'
The humble sausage sanga comes in many forms, with mini hot dogs being the preferred party food. This is no doubt due to the celebration-red colour of the frankfurt (aka as various things across the country: including baby savs, cheerios, footy franks and, somewhat blushingly, little boys).
Serve your hot dogs with a pick-n-mix platter of veggies like carrots, baby tomatoes, lettuce gems and radishes o keep things squarely on the 'dinner' side of indulgence.
Bean me up nachos
Nachos are the ultimate party food - it's made for sharing, it serves the masses and it has the added bonus of stretchy cheese competitions built right in. Why wouldn't we want to enjoy them as often as possible?
To lighten the load, make these black bean nachos, instead of the standard meat-filledversion. This will cut down on saturated fat and increase your legume intake in one. Serve it up with a quinoa salad, or try this corn salad to further up your veggie intake.
Chicken wing it
Once you get started with the chicken wings at the party buffet, it's goodbye self-restraint, hello sticky fingers. Make them for dinner and you get to maul into them without fear of anyone judging.
These babies are actually a pretty healthy party food when baked, so go for it on any night of the week.
Always a crowd-pleaser, spicy chicken wings are super simple to make and great for parties, because you can do all the prep work well in advance.
If you love chicken wings, you’re going to LOVE these. And they’re so, so easy. Simply grab a jar of sambal oelek from the supermarket and you’re set. The baking powder helps the chicken cook to crisp, tasty perfection but do be sure to use non-aluminium based powder. It has none of the metallic taste you get with regular baking powder, something you definitely don’t want here.
Quick quiche
The beauty of a mini quiche is that the cooking time is barely noticeable. These bread-cup quiches take less than 20 minutes in the oven. Make them plain, or add flavours like tomato and basil or pumpkin and sage to really lift your party spirits.
This light and minty crustless quiche is lifted by the salty feta. Perfect for a packed lunch, it will also keep well in the fridge for up to two days. Serve warm or cold with a lightly dressed mixed salad.
Quinoa is a kind of cereal that's been the core food of Andean countries in South America for hundreds of years. In the last 15 years, it was discovered that the nutrient composition of quinoa is better than common cereals. This is because the seeds contain essential amino acids like lysine, as well as acceptable quantities of calcium, phosphorus and iron. With its great texture, quinoa is the perfect healthy base for both savoury and sweet dishes, and the quinoa quiche is one of these inventions.
Pizzette party
Another winner from the 'make it mini' school of thought. Pizzettes are everything you love about pizza in bite-size form. The beauty of this is you can put a different topping on each pizzette for variety. Silvia Colloca's pizzettes use stale bread as the base, adding to their 'make it everyday' appeal.
With a wide Portobello mushroom as a base and a delicious tomato and mozzarella topping, it has all the flavour of a traditional pizza but only a fraction of the calories.
Snag rollin'
Sausage rolls always hit the top 10 party food list for good reason. They're bloody delicious. Especially this gluten-free Thai chicken version, which manages to pack the equivalent flavour of a chicken curry into compact sausage roll format. If you're not gluten-intolerant, just stuff the glorious filling into some store-bought puff pastry instead.
Serve this recipe with some complementary veggies like a green papaya salad, banana blossom salad or green mango salad.
Fritter away
Little fritter bites with plenty of sauce for dunking are all you need for a hearty dinner. Diana Chan's perkedel jagung are a good start, but don't stop there. Zucchini fritters. potato fritters, carrot fritters, pumpkin fritters and general veggie fritters are also calling your name. Top tip: any fritter, no matter where it originated, is made better by adding some haloumi to the mix.
Stick it to dinner
It is a truth universally acknowledged that if you stick food on a skewer it tastes better. No, really, it's science. No wonder stick food is such popular party food; and why you need to skewer tonight's dinner immediately. Start with this veggie and paneer recipe and maybe add a spicy beef stick to round out the meal?
Skewers of pork or chicken mince might be more widely known, but these skewers wrapped with freshly cooked rice are just as soft and smoky-flavoured.
Oh, go on then
While we'd never advocate for eating dessert for dinner every night of the week, sometimes it just feels right. If you're going to do it (and by 'if', we mean 'when'), then serve up something like this eggplant brownie recipe. The goodness of an entire eggplant is baked right in there. We are so here for party food for dinner!
This banana-laced steamed cake has a deliciously spongy, moist texture, which is topped off with a creamy coconut sauce and crunchy toasted sesame seeds. Hemp seeds are the new superfood, and what better way to use its creamy texture and mild flavour than in these raw chocolate brownies! It has been a banner year for berries! Each week at the farmers' market I've come across a new berry I'm yet to try. The sweet little lady who I purchased my currants from last week had a few containers of gooseberries. I fell in love with the colours, shape and lines. The berry itself is not overly sweet, you could compare it to a blueberry. Gooseberries are full of vitamin C, fibre and potassium. So they add a healthy little kick to your day. This cake is gluten-free, sugar-free, soy-free and peanut-free, as well as vegan. Overall, it's one of the healthier desserts, let alone chocolate cakes, you could make. The gelatin in these delicious jellies is great for gut health, and the chamomile and manuka honey in this recipe are also brilliant at soothing the digestive system and balancing gut bacteria. I just threw the raspberries in because they look pretty! "These lime, coconut and mint balls are the perfect healthy treat and great in the summer time because they're a little bit tropical and such a yummy, satisfying snack." Lola Berry
Known as Noah’s Ark pudding to celebrate finding land after the flood, this is a dense, delicious, nutritious mix of grain, dried fruits, nuts and spices enjoyed since ancient days in Turkey.
