Blog Party

Stephanie from Dispensing Happiness suggested this Blog Party early August and I was thrilled to take part since I rarely do cocktail parties. I planned to kick off my party bites this week but somehow, everything got caught up in between and I was faced with Thursday looming ahead but no food! I rallied on Thursday and told myself that I must get this off since it's the inaugural round. So when, Splashie Boy told me that he could not join me for dinner since he had a late night conference call, I brushed it aside and said no problems, I will still continue even though I'm flying solo.

I'm glad I perservered as I have some lovely cocktail bites and drinks to share with all now. Originally my theme was Thai bites but I added a Japanese twist to it since I could not resist some salmon sashimi I saw in the supermarket. Like all cooking events of mine, I always get a little crisis and this time the mayonnaise did not turn out (argh!).

These fantastic looking salmon sashimi is extremely easy to make and tastes great with some home made mayonnaise. If mayonnaise is not your thing, try them with soya sauce and a pinch of wasabi for kicks. Inspired by my Flavours magazine which originally made them with beef sashimi, you can substitute the salmon with tuna if you fancy.

The twistie bits are bean thread noodles that have been deep fried. It's amazing how they frizz up the moment you put them in the hot oil. I have also added some shaved potato slices which have been deep fried and a flowering spring onion. Cut your dried bean thread noodles and the potato slice to a length of about six centimetres and deep fry them. Ensure you fry them seperately all else the thread noodles will stick together in a clump. Place on the salmon sashimi and roll them up.



As every party needs drinks and since the theme was Thai bites, I decided to go for the iced lemongrass tea from Donna Hay. The drink was refreshing and added a nice Thai flavour.

Iced Lemongrass Tea (Donna Hay)

10 stalks of lemongrass, chopped
7 1/2 cups (3 pints 4 fl oz) water
5 tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 stalks, lemongrass, extra to serve
ice cubes

Place the lemongrass in a food processor and process until finely chopped. Place the chopped lemongrass and water into a saucepan and simmer for fifteen minutes. Add the sugar and set aside to cool. Strain and add the lemon juice. Bruise the extra lemongrass and tie each in a knot. Serve over ice with the lemongrass. Serves four.

To conclude my cocktail menu, I made some spicy crab and prawn fritters with a chilli and lime dipping sauce from Australian Women's Weekly Best Food cookbook. Ever since I bought that cookbook, I have been eyeing that recipe but never tried it. This time round, I had a perfect excuse to whip those fritters. Extremely simple since it just means processing all the ingredients and shaping them into fritters to be pan fried.

Spicy Crab and Prawn Fritters with Chili Lime Dipping Sauce

650g uncooked large prawns
2 x 170g cans of crab meat, drained
1 tablespoon red curry paste
1 egg
2 green onions, chopped coarsely
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh coriander
2 teaspoons coarsely chopped lemon grass
1 red thai chili, seeded and chopped coarsely
2 tablespoons peanut oil

Shell and devein the prawns. Blend or process with crab, paste, egg, green onions, herbs and chili until just combined. Wet your hands so the mixture will not stick and shape them into fritters.

Heat up oil in a frying pan and cook fritters in batches till golden brown. Drain on absorbent paper to get rid of any excess oil. Serve with sauce.

Chilli Lime Dipping Sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1 kaffir lime leaf, shredded or lime zest
1 red thai chilli, seeded and chopped finely

Place ingredients in small bowl and whisk until sugar dissolves.



Keeping with the Thai theme, I used a wooden platter we had earlier purchased from the Damnoen Saduak floating market in Thailand. As I did not have any banana leaf, I improvised and used a Thai motifs wrapping paper from Jim Thompson, my all time favourite shop for Thai silk fabrics and what-nots.

A big thank you to Stephanie for this wonderful idea to have a Blog Party and I can't wait for the other events plus the roundup of cocktail foods this weekend.