Recipes With a Twist
Posts tagged Appetizers
Seven Layer Dip
Jan 1st
Seven Layer Dip
Who does not like chips ‘n’ dip? I love making this Mexican dip for get-togethers. Very easy to put together and you don’t have to worry about leftovers because there won’t be any. Instead of making it the traditional way with vertical layers, I like to arrange my layers horizontally. This way the colorful and appetizing ingredients are more visible and people can choose if they want to skip something. You can play around with lot of different ingredients such as different type of salsa, peppers, roasted corn, guacamole, cheese,roasted peppers and so on.
You need:
1 small can black olives
1 cup sour cream
1 can refried pinto beans
1 cup jalapeños peppers (Nacho) sliced
1 cup Mexican cheese blend
1 cup fresh salsa
1 cup and little more roasted corn and black bean salsa
This is a rough estimate as the quantities of ingredients depend on the size and shape of the serving platter.
Take a large serving platter of any shape. I prefer round as you can create the layers in concentric circles and the one I chose also has a little depth. Select an ingredient for the inner most layer. I started with fresh salsa in the middle. Second layer is olives followed by a layer of refried beans. Fourth layer is sour cream. I chose to surround the sour cream with jalapeños. Bright green and white offers a nice contrast. The last two layers are roasted corn and black bean salsa and Mexican cheese blend in that order. Finally, on the innermost layer, I added a small dollop of sour cream. Do not worry about perfect circles or uneven layers. You can always cover the uneven lines later.
Serve with Tortilla chips (I like it with pita chips as well!)
Seven Layer Dip
Thanksgiving leftovers Potato Cutlets
Nov 30th
Here is what I did with my Thanksgiving leftovers-Mashed Potatoes, Corn Bread and Roasted Mushrooms, Peppers, et AL.. All ingredients are very soft in texture (specially mashed potatoes) but when combined in cutlets and coated with breadcrumbs , you get nice crispy appetizers or filling for a sandwich or a wrap for lunch. Also, I added some Indian spices to give them adifferent flavor.
You need:
3 cups Mashed Potatoes
3/4 to 1 cup Roasted Mushrooms, Peppers, et AL., mashed/cut in very small pieces
Few pieces of corn bread, crumbled
5 pieces of bread, French bread/sour dough will make them crispier
salt to taste
red pepper to taste
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tsp MSD Chaat Masala (optional)
1 tsp roasted cumin powder (optional)
oil for shallow frying
1 egg beaten
1 cup breadcrumbs for coating
Moisten the bread pieces with water and crumble them using a fork or hands. Mix the bread with other ingredients – potatoes, corn bread, mashed roasted vegetables. Add seasonings,
chopped cilantro and mix well. Shape the mixture in small cutlets. One at a time, dip a cutlet in egg and roll it in breadcrumbs until well coated .
Heat oil on medium-high heat in a heavy bottomed,wide pan. When the oil is heated (not burning), slide in slowly few cutlets . Let them stand for a minute and check if they are
browning. Flip and cook on the other side. If you think the oil is extremely hot, lower the flame. If the oil is very hot, cutlets will cook and blacken faster and will not be
properly done. Enjoy with tomato ketchup or Indian style Tamarind Chutney.
Meal Tip: You can make a sandwich or a wrap using these. We ate them sandwiched in bread and my son enjoyed them as a snack. Bonus: got him to eat potatoes and veggies at the same time!
Cut calories:Use boild potatoes and veggies instead of high calorie mashed potatoes. If you add enough French bread, you can also skip using egg and breadcrumbs coating