Party Help

[Mercure]

Help! We're throwing an Indiana Jones birthday party and I need hors d'ouvres ideas, clever people!

There's already a plan in motion for a two-section Temple of Doom cake (coconut cake with vanilla buttercream icing for the base, and hazelnut sponge with chocolate mousse icing for the actual temple :yum) but as far as the snacks go, I've no idea what sort of theme foods to make. :(

[Ryan Pode]

Frozen monkey brains.

[Turbogeek]

I was about to say why on earth are you asking advice from a bunch of lifeless INTERNET NEEEEEEEEEERDS and then .....


Frozen monkey brains.

And then I saw this and withdrew my comment :D

DO IT

[Mercure]

Because people here can cook like mofos.

Monkey brains could be a great name for something though. Hmm. Maybe puff pastry with creole hamburger inside.

[Liam Jinn]

Or you could find some monkeys and... well, 'nuff said :)

[Veritas]

If you're looking for some actual globe-trotting treats and ethnic delights, I can help you. In fact, I've been making Indian food rather obsessively lately. I just pulled a few batches of Bhaji out of the fryer within the hour, actually.

[Mercure]

Oooh yes please!

[General Dan]

Okay here you go:

Bhaji

The hardest part about Bhaji is finding a place that sells gram flour. Most supermarkets don't, but you can luck out at alternative foods, ethnic grocers, health food shops, hippy markets, etc. Lots of times it is called "garbanzo flour" or "chicpea flour" since its made out of that.

You'll need about a cup of the stuff, give or take.

Now get an onion (I use red but any decent sized one will do) and chop it up into thin strips. Set those aside. Take one or two green chiles, remove the seeds, and chop them finely. Crush about two or three teaspoons of corriander seeds in a mortar & pestle or a grinder if you have that.

Now put your flour in a mixing bowl and add to that a teaspoon of cumin, teaspoon of turmeric, teaspoon of chili powder, teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Pour some cold water on that gradually, until it is a muddy consistency. Test this by pouring your veggies into the bowl. If the stuff coats and clings to the veggies but still stirs about like a semi-liquid, you're good to go.

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/LoungieMu/bhaji1.jpg

Take a deep saucepan or skillet and get a good half inch depth or so of oil - preferably canola. Get the oil heated up, and start taking small spoonfulls of the veggie batter and spooning them into the oil. They'll form these blobby looking things.

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/LoungieMu/bhaji2.jpg

Because gram flour is a darker flour than most, and because the cumin, turmeric, and chili powder will make it appear even darker, you want these to go a little bit beyond golden brown before you take them out of the oil. I say kind of a copper I guess. It's easier to just post a picture of the final product:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p156/LoungieMu/bhaji3.jpg

As you can see, one onion makes a stupid huge amount of food. These are great with any manner of chutney. Christin really likes hot mango chutney, and I myself fancy cilantro chutney. Both are excellent.

[Dasquian Belargic]

Oh man oh man :yum

[General Dan]

I'm going to do some experimentation with mutabbal and see if its something you might want to do. If not, I'll post my hommous recipe for you, to have some raiders-themed halal vittles.

[Dasquian Belargic]

My housemate suggested that you take a coconut and fill it with strawberry ice-cream monkey brains! Also, fashion a big snake from... something and put little jelly snakes inside :D Some liquorice whips to nibble on, perhaps?

[Mercure]

Ooooh, we can has monkey brains! :D

Oh man, that looks great Charley. Def. tryin' 'em out.

[Jan Claasen du Toit]

I tried making some broccoli pakoras last night too, but those didn't turn out as well as the onion bhajis. Still good, just not as crisp as I'd want.

I found a falafel recipe that doesn't suck, and I'm going to see if its worth your time. No promises yet.

[Taja Loraan]

Btw -- the word "bhaji" technically just means "fried." It's not the name of a specific dish or anything. :)

[General Dan]

Well yeah, they're onion bhajis, so basically fried onions (shrug)

I don't make it up, I just cook it :)

[Park Kraken]

I've had Alligator tail and Alligator fingers before, but not from this here recipe, but since there isn't anything in the way of Crocodiles handy for food, this will have to suffice -

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Alligator-Fingers/Detail.aspx

[Banner Laverick]

My housemate suggested that you take a coconut and fill it with strawberry ice-cream monkey brains! Also, fashion a big snake from... something and put little jelly snakes inside :D Some liquorice whips to nibble on, perhaps?

The coconut thing = awesome. And that's two votes for Liquorice whips! ;)