Cocktail Party Appetizers

It is a psychological thing. The moment you serve delectable appetizers at a party, people naturally deduce that you are about to serve some of the best food on earth. They also automatically like all that you provide them with, whether or not every item is equally well prepared. So, half your battle, to gastronomically satiate your guests, is won. It gets even easier with cocktail parties, as you also have drinks to satisfy your guests. Of course, a few good cocktail party recipes make concoction of some of the best cocktails on earth a rather easy job and so, all you need to do is conjure some well prepared cocktail party appetizers to get everybody into that happy go-lucky-mood. So, here I give you some rather toothsome cocktail party appetizer ideas, that will neither disappoint you and nor the palates of your guests, I promise!

Best Cocktail Party Appetizers

Cantaloupe Clumps
Increase the measurements accordingly. Now for a group of 8, you will need:

• Cantaloupes, 15 lbs. (ripe)
• Mint leaves, yield of 10 sprigs (finely hacked)
• Granulated sugar, a pinch
• Black pepper, to taste

Procedure
Cut the cantaloupes into half and then remove their seeds. Next, use a 1" melon baller to spoon out the pulp of the fruit and keep these balls into a vessel, which will facilitate easy tossing. Now add the sugar and the hacked mint leaves to the cantaloupe balls and toss well. Finally, season it well with some freshly ground black pepper and then refrigerate this preparation for a minimum of 60 minutes. Easy, ain't it?

Fish Fries
I hail from Kolkata and am, therefore, a glutton when it comes to gorging fish. This is a preparation that no Bengali will ever say no to. Try it. It really works wonders as an appetizer. If you were to make it for 8 people, the ingredients you'd require are:

• White fish, 1000 gms. (boneless, preferably bekti fish, cut into eight ½" thick fillets)
• Potatoes, 8 (medium, cut into ½" thick fingers)
• Flour, 2 cups
• Milk, 1½ cups
• Water, ½ cup (chilled)
• Vinegar, 2 tbsp.
• Baking powder, 1 tsp.
• Chili powder, ½ tsp.
• Salt, ½ tsp.
• Cooking oil, enough to deep-fry

Procedure
First, deep-fry the potato fingers and set aside. Next, make the batter by mixing together flour, baking powder, chili powder, salt, milk and water. Whip this well until what you get is a smooth fluid. Now, heat oil in a frying pan and make sure it becomes piping hot. At this juncture, dip and coat each fillet piece well into the batter and slowly initiate two fillets into the oil, at a time. Fry each side for approximately 2 minutes and when it takes on its chocolate brownish avatar, remove with a slotted spoon and place it on tissues. Before serving, toss the potato fingers with the vinegar, salt and some pepper. Slice up a tomato and season it with salt and pepper. Now serve the fish fries on a big platter, surrounded by the potato fingers and tomatoes. This tastes even more heavenly with some mustard sauce and ketchup.

Tandoori Mushroom
For this you'll need to rent or borrow a tandoor oven from someplace. You'll need to gather:

• Button mushrooms, 20
• Curd, 500 gms.
• Lemon juice, 1 tbsp.
• Red chili paste, 2 tsp.
• Ginger-garlic paste, 2 tsp.
• Cumin powder, ½ tsp.
• Indian garam masala, ½ tsp.
• Salt, to taste

Procedure
Whisk together the curd, lemon juice, chili paste, ginger-garlic paste, cumin, garam masala and the salt, until you get a smooth marinade. Now dip and coat the button mushrooms well with the marinade and then pierce the mushrooms with skewers. Cook them until they are golden brown. Now remove them from the skewers and use a toothpick to prick each of them before serving with some shredded veggies and mint chutney.

Crispy Mushrooms in Black Pepper Sauce
This baby won't take up more than 15 minutes of your precious time! Now for a single person you'd need:

• Button mushrooms, 10
• Cornflour, 20 gms.
• Black pepper powder, 10 gms.
• Butter, 10 gms.
• Sugar, 5 gms.
• Salt, 2 gms.
• Tomato ketchup, 20 ml
• HP sauce, 5 ml
• Soy sauce, 3 ml
• Spring roll sheet, 1

Procedure
Deep-fry the spring roll sheet into a crumpled bowl like bird nest shape and then keep it aside. Next, blend together the black pepper, butter, sugar, salt, ketchup and HP sauce thoroughly in a wok and then heat it to get a desirable sauce like consistency. Now go on to washing the mushrooms and then commingling them with the cornflour. Now heat oil and deep-fry the mushrooms until they crispen. Finally, pour the black pepper condiment onto the mushrooms, stir once and cover to cook for a while. After that, place the preparation in the crumpled spring roll sheet and gobble away to glory people!

Angels and Devils on Horseback
The name itself is rather tantalizing, isn't it? See that you have:

• Oysters (freshly shucked) or duck kidneys, 12
• Rasher of bacon, 12
• Dry white wine, 100 ml
• Garlic clove, 1 (chopped)
• Tabasco, a dash
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Procedure
Pour the wine into a big bowl and mix the garlic, salt and pepper with it. Now, marinate the kidneys (devils) or shucked oysters (angels) with the concoction, for like 20 minutes after which you need to wrap each piece of kidney or oysters with a rasher of bacon and secure it with a toothpick. Now, pan fry each side for approximately two minutes. When the bacon becomes crispy then serve with a tantalizing dash of Tabasco! Believe me this is one of those appetizers, good enough to get you sprout a pair of wings or even a naughty tail with the sexiest pair of horns for that matter...

So, confidently make these preparations a part of your cocktail party appetizer menu, some of them being exotic gourmet appetizers, will leave your guests hankering for more. If you effectively team these luscious cocktail party appetizers with some great cocktails to sip, nothing on earth can stop your party to become the most talked about party in town!