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9 times we approved party food for dinner

Don't save these gems for party time. Break them out to celebrate... Tuesday?

Gluten-free Thai chicken sausage rolls with sweet chilli dipping sauce

Gluten-free Thai chicken sausage rolls with sweet chilli dipping sauce Source: Loving Gluten Free

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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'

Hot dogs and fairy bread
Make them mini to save room for fairy bread dessert. Source: Adam Liaw
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.
READ MORE

Kimchi hot dogs

Hot dog (pancho)

Bean me up nachos

Bean me up – and enjoy the melted cheese.
Bean me up – and enjoy the melted cheese. Source: China Squirrel
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.
READ MORE

Nacho bowls

Chicken wing it

chilli-and-honey-chicken-wings-with-sriracha-sauce .
These Asian-style spicy and sticky chicken wings are perfect for sinking into your homemade Siracha sauce. Source: SBS
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.
READ MORE

Sweet and spicy chicken wings

Honey-sambal chicken wings

Sumac-roasted chicken wings with preserved lemon and coriander

Quick quiche

Bread cup quiches
Donna Hay's bread cup quiches are a little healthier than your regular pastry versions. Source: Donna Hay
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.
READ MORE

Feta, pea and mint crustless quiche

Quinoa quiche

Pizzette party

Stale bread “pizzette”
The toppings on these pizzette can be made from whatever you have on hand. Source: Cook like an Italian
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.
READ MORE

Low-carb portobello 'pizzas'

Tricolore vegan pizza

Bulgogi beef pizza

Snag rollin'

Gluten-free Thai chicken sausage rolls with sweet chilli dipping sauce
This Thai take on an Aussie classic is extra-good when dipped in a zesty lime and ginger sweet chilli sauce. Source: Loving Gluten Free
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
.
READ MORE

Turmeric sausage rolls

Lamb and haloumi sausage rolls

Fritter away

Corn fritters (Perkedel jagung)
There is really no topping corn fritters, it's true. Source: Asia Unplated with Diana Chan
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.
READ MORE

Corn fritters

Stick it to dinner

Tandoori paneer and vegetable skewers
Skewers go well on the barbie, but if it's too cold outside, fire up your oven grill instead. Source: Martin Poole
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?
READ MORE

Laotian grilled rice skewers (khao jee)

Grilled pork skewers with nahm jim jaew dipping sauce

Grilled beef skewers with pepperberry sauce

Oh, go on then

Chocolate eggplant brownie from Clever Guts Diet
Strange as it may sound, eggplant works brilliantly with dark, flavonoid-rich chocolate. Source: Simon & Schuster
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!
Sweets for dinner

Healthy sweet congee

Lime, coconut and mint balls

Chocolate decadence cake

Chamomile, manuka honey and raspberry jellies

Choc avocado mousse with berries

Steamed banana cake

Raw choc hemp seed brownies

Asure

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4 min read
Published 26 April 2021 4:24pm
Updated 27 April 2021 1:51pm
By SBS Food bite-sized
Source: SBS

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