Party Finger Food Recipes

Parties are fun, festive occasions and absolutely need great party finger food. Food can make or break a party. Putting out a few bowls of nuts and plates of cheese just won’t cut it. People remember a party from the food.

Party food can be very high in fat because the most common ones tend to be fried, consist of pastry, processed meats, and hard cheeses, amongst others. The trick is to use fresh vegetables, breads, and low fat dairy products.

These are my favourites:

• Dips or salsa with an assortment of breads and slices of vegetables, such as carrot, celery, capsicum (bell peppers), cherry tomatoes
• savoury popcorn
• finger sandwiches with a variety of fillings
• falafel
• mini fritattas
• party pizza (see recipe below)
• slices of fresh fruit
• skewers with a variety of cheese or tofu and vegetables
• antipasto platter

Use low fat dairy and/or pureed vegetables and beans for dips - a very simple dip is yoghurt with grated cucumber (seeds removed) and garlic. Use grated beetroot instead of cucumber. Puree cannellini beans with tomato adding garlic, chilli to taste. Dips are good for party finger food.

Skewered vegetables can look and taste impressive. Just allow for a bit of preparation time. Use short bamboo skewers soaked in water for 15 minutes then drained. Or use stalks of rosemary or lemongrass (I've seen these sold in bundles at some speciality food stores) - soak the rosemary stalks in water for around 10 minutes. Thread on pieces of cheese, marinated tofu and chopped vegetable.

See recipes for dips and skewered vegetables here

Here are some ideas for slightly larger sandwiches:

A thin frittata can be used for sandwiches - bread rolls, turkish bread or foccaccia - combine with green leaves, olive paste or with a mixture of low fat ricotta and low fat yoghurt.

Fill pita pockets with low fat fetta or bocconcini (small fresh cheese balls), blanched green beans, chopped olives and chopped cherry tomatoes. Add a sun-dried tomato salsa. To make the salsa: soak 6 sun dried tomatoes in boiling water, then drain and chop. Add ¼ tsp fresh chopped chilli, ½ tsp ground cumin, ¼ cup each chopped basil and coriander, 1-2 cloves crushed garlic.

While preparing, keep in mind the size of slices - remember we're eating with one hand (I need the other hand for multi-tasking - gesturing, holding glass, phone...). For party finger food, it's handy to use paper napkins to wrap around the ends of sandwiches.

Try wonton wrappers for more sophisticated parties. Place wonton wrappers in a greased mini-muffin tin and bake for 10 minutes in a preheated oven 180C (355F) until golden brown. Use for fillings. Don't leave fillings in for too long as the wrappers tend to get a little soft after a while. Wonton wrappers are used in Chinese cooking - you may find them in your supermarket or Chinese store. Use them instead of vol-au-vents or pastry cases.

Avocado toasts

• 1 large egg
• 2 cloves garlic (peeled)
• 1 large ripe avocado (peeled, seeded and roughly chopped)
• 3 tbs lemon juice
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½ tsp salt
• dash of cayenne pepper or chilli powder
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 long thin sourdough baguette (day old)

1. Process egg and garlic in a blender
2. Add avocado and lemon juice. Process until smooth.
3. With blender running, add the olive oil
4. Toast cumin seeds in hot dry saucepan until they pop across the pan
5. Place in bowl
6. Slice baguette into rounds, place on oven tray and spray with olive oil. Place in
7. medium oven for about 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
8. Spread avocado mixture onto slices and sprinkle with cumin seeds
9. Option: serve avocado mixture in a bowl, sprinkle with cumin seeds and serve as a dip with baguette slices.

The avocado mixture can be left in the fridge for up to three hours before serving.

For children’s parties, I include a few sweet things (Ok, they can be for adults too!). Fruit balls are popular.

Fruit balls

• 1 cup dried fruit medley (apples (chopped), apricots (chopped), sultanas)
• ¾ cup raisins
• ½ cup dates (chopped)
• ½ cup boiling water
• 1 cup skim milk powder
• ½ cup chopped nuts
• ½ cup desiccated coconut

1. Combine dried fruit medley, raisins and dates. Pour boiling water over fruits and leave for 15 minutes.
2. Add skim milk powder, nuts and half the coconut and mix thoroughly. Using clean hands, form into 2cm balls, roll in remaining coconut, using more if necessary.
3. Refrigerate, covered, for a few hours before serving.

Each ball contains about 250kj. Nutritional information/ball:2g fat, 1g fibre, 250kj. Makes about 35.

Variation: use ½ cup tahini paste and ½ cup skim milk powder, instead of 1 cup of skim milk powder. This will raise the fat level a bit higher.

Presentation of the party finger food is important so make a real impression. Look at the shapes and colours of food as well as the dishes, table coverings. Go for multi-coloured themes or emphasise a single colour - this will create a great atmosphere. In the photo below I've chopped capsicum, carrot and cucumber and arranged them in small glasses and a cup on a plate surrounded by lettuce leaves. Try slightly different ways of presenting food.

These are quick pizzas to make and are easy to eat finger food. I use wholewheat Lebanese bread, but pitta pockets are great as well. You can make your own tomato sauce or buy from the shops. Keep the topping simple when serving as finger food.

The basics for 12 slices:

• 2 wholewheat Lebanese bread
• Olive oil spray
• 2x150g pizza sauce serves or 1 cup homemade tomato sauce
• 1 cup low fat cheese (grated)
• 2 cups chopped fresh basil, or mixture of basil and parsley
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1/2 cup pitted green olives (chopped)

Pre-heat oven to 180C. Lightly spray both sides of Lebanese bread. Place on baking tray and crispen in oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Turn bread over and crispen other side for 10 minutes. Remove from oven.

Mix pizza sauce with garlic, olives and chopped basil. Spread mixture evenly over the 2 pieces of bread. Sprinkle cheese over the top. Place in oven, until cheese is slightly brown. Remove from oven.

Cut into slices. And serve hot or cold.

Curried Pea Rissoles

• 4 cups cooked green peas
• 4 cups cooked basmati rice
• 1 clove garlic (crushed)
• 1 tbs coriander/cilantro (chopped)
• 1 tsp fresh ginger (grated)
• 1 tbs curry powder
• 1 cup toasted almonds (finely chopped)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• olive oil spray

1. Mix all ingredients together, kneading with hands.
2. Make flattened balls and fry in non-stick pan sprayed with olive oil. Cook on both sides until golden.
3. Makes approximately 36.



back from party finger food to low-calorie-vegetarian-recipe home page