Zippy, sharp and nerve-tingling, the flavours of coconut, coriander, lime juice, peanut and chilli make for perfect party eats. With the exception of the garlic potato crisps (which are simply designed to give you something terrific to nibble on as everything gets underway) all the dishes below have Pacific accents.
Some of you will have to do some store-cupboard shopping to assemble things such as fish sauce and sesame oil, but once you try these tastes, you will find yourself using the ingredients again and again.
For more information on Thai cooking, turn to The Taste of Thailand by Vatcharin Bhumichitr, and Asia - The Beautiful Cookbook by Jacki Passmore.
A clever kick-off idea: make lots and lots of these - the combination of warm crisps, sharp garlic, fresh parsley and melting butter is shockingly moreish.
This is from Lorna Wing's book Party!food. Wing advises (see below) that you can prepare this in advance. I think it is better to do it at the last minute if you possibly can, as this is a better guarantee of capturing the flavours. The garlic and parsley should be very finely chopped.
Garlic Potato Crisps
570g (1 1/4 lb) potato crisps
150g (5oz) butter
1 large clove garlic, crushed
2 rounded tablespoons chopped parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Put the crisps into a shallow ovenproof dish or baking tray. Melt the butter, add the garlic and cook over a low heat for 30 seconds, then add lots of salt and some pepper. Cool a little, stir in the parsley, pour over the crisps and toss so they are well coated. Heat through for 3-5 minutes in an oven set to 350F/180 C/gas 4.
Shopping tip: Buy lightly salted, kettle-cooked crisps, the best you can find. Don't buy standard, flavoured crisps as the flavours will be too salty.
Trauma tip: The crisps can be tossed in the garlic butter up to a day ahead, stored in an airtight container and kept in a cool place. Heat as above. Note, the garlic/ parsley butter can be frozen up to 4 weeks before the party.
Satay is great party food because it looks so cool, with the food skewered on thin, bamboo sticks. This is one of the classics. Incidentally decent napkins will do for all these finger foods.
Pork Satay For the pork sticks:
450g (1lb) lean pork
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon curry powder
8 tablespoons coconut milk
3 tablespoons sugar
Peanut sauce:
2 tablespoons oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoons red curry paste
8 tablespoons coconut milk
1 cup (250ml/8 fl oz) stock or water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Juice of half a lemon
4 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
4 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs
To make the pork: Cut the pork into small (1.5cm) dice. Combine all the other ingredients in a bowl and add the pork. Leave to marinate for at least eight hours.
To make the sauce: In a frying pan, heat the oil until a light haze appears. Add the chopped garlic and fry until soft. Add the curry paste, mix well and cook together for a few seconds. Add the coconut milk, mix in well and cook for a few seconds. Add the stock, sugar, salt and lemon juice, and stir to blend. Cook for a minute or two, constantly stirring. Add the peanut butter and breadcrumbs, stir to blend thoroughly.
To serve: Thread the pork on to bamboo skewers (this is enough for about 30 small portions) and grill for 10-12 minutes on a medium-high heat, turning frequently. Serve on a plate with the warm sauce drizzled over.
Shopping tip: use tinned coconut milk and make sure to get Thai red curry paste, not Indian.
Trauma tip: soak the skewers in water for 10 minutes before grilling, so they don't catch fire under the grill. For advance cooking you can marinate the pork overnight: grill an hour or so before the party, then cover and keep warm in a very low oven - but be careful not to let the pork dry out. Cook the sauce in the morning and chill immediately, then re-warm quickly with a little stock, water or coconut milk to restore its consistency.
Everyone loves chicken bites at a party, and these drumsticks are both simple and totally fab. You can make the paste with a food processor to save time.
Peppered Chicken Drumsticks
8 chicken drumsticks
3 cloves garlic
1 inch fresh ginger
6 sprigs fresh coriander (including root and stem)
2 teaspoons peppercorns
1 heaped tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons oil
Using a pestle and mortar, make a paste with the garlic, ginger, coriander and peppercorns. Spread over the chicken and leave to marinate at least two hours, or overnight.
Mix together the sugar and soy sauce and when the sugar has dissolved, stir in the oil to make the glaze.
To cook: Brush the chicken with the glaze, and place under a pre-heated moderate grill, or on a pre-heated grill pan or bbq grill. You can also roast the chicken in theoven (pre-heated to 330F/180C/gas 4), which gives a different, but still delicious result.
Throughout cooking, baste the chicken with more of the glaze - especially if you are roasting the chicken, as the sauce tends to slide off. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the juices run clear and the skin is crispy. If you are cooking the chicken in the oven, try turning up the heat for the last five minutes, or placing under a grill to crisp the skin.
'Shopping tip: If you buy fresh coriander leaf in an Asian store, rather than a supermarket, you often get the flavoursome roots still attached to the plant.
'Trauma tip: You can marinate the chicken overnight. Then cook it in the morning and serve it at just a few degrees above room temperature by warming in a low oven for fifteen 15 minutes before serving. Have serviettes on hand.
Many Thai appetisers are deep fried, which of course is difficult to get right when guests are invading your kitchen and you are in your best party frock. For this reason, we've stayed away from this sort of cooking - but couldn't resist adding in this recipe, which is a little bit more complicated and last minute that the others - but smashing for a small gathering.
Coriander and Peanut Stuffed Chillies
8 large green chillies
125g (4oz) lean pork meat
2 tablespoons roasted peanuts
Nam pla (fish sauce)
1 clove garlic
2 sprigs fresh coriander (including root and stem)
1 small egg or half a large one
Salt and pepper
Vegetable oil for deep frying
1/2 cup plain flour
Use the point of a sharp knife to make a slit along one side of each chili, then carefully scrape away the seeds and stem without splitting the chilli.
Place the rest of the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process using the pulse until the mixture has come together and the pork is somewhat minced (don't over-process, or you'll lose all texture).
Place a little stuffing in each chilli, using a teaspoon. Reform the chillies using a cocktail stick.
Heat plenty of vegetable oil in a large pan. Mix the flour with enough ice water to make a thin batter. Lightly coat the chillies with extra flour, then coat with the batter. Slide carefully into the oil and fry for about three minutes, turning once or twice, until crisped and golden on the surface. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain well.
Serve at once with additional fish sauce for dipping.
Shopping tip: Nam pla (fish sauce) is ubiquitous when it comes Asian cooking. You can buy it from Asian stores and some supermarkets. Don't be put off by its pungent smell, it's a wonderful ingredient that adds a velvety depth to the cooking of this region.
Trauma tip: Don't overstuff the chillies as they might may burst open during cooking. You can make the filling and stuff the chillies in advance, but the deep frying has to be done at the last minute.
Shellfish loves spicy Asian flavours, and here are two recipes using prawns and shrimps. The first is adapted from Florence Lin's Chinese Regional Cookbook, and the touch of curry powder is ingenious.
Shrimp Curry Puffs
100g (3 1/2 oz) shelled raw shrimps or prawns
1 small onion, finely chopped
Lard
1/2 teaspoon Madras curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
Pinch of sugar
25g (1 oz) mashed potato
340g (12 oz) packet shortcrust pastry
1 egg, beaten
Cover the shrimps or prawns with water and bring them quickly to boiling point. Drain, then chop them finely. Set them in a mixing bowl. Stir-fry the onion in a knob of lard until soft, add the curry powder and stir them together for one minute.
Spoon the onion mixture on to the shrimps or prawns and add salt, sugar and mashed potato. Mix and stir thoroughly. Let the mixture cool, them put it into the refrigerator to chill for an hour.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out circles about 8 cm (3 inches) in diameter. Knead the scraps into the remaining dough to make more circles. Place about one heaped teaspoon of the shrimp or prawn filling in the centre of each round, fold over the dough into a half-moon shape and seal the edges tightly, making a scalloped edge. Place the puffs on ungreased baking sheets and prick each puff with a fork. Brush the tops with the beaten egg. Bake the puffs in a preheated 200C/400F/gas 6 oven for about 20 minutes, or until they turn golden brown. This recipe makes about 20 puffs. Serve with mango chutney sauce for dipping.
Shopping tip: Pre-rolled pastry is acceptable for this recipe if you're catering for a crowd.
Trauma tip: Can be made the day before and reheated slowly, covered with tin foil.
The recipe below, for prawn balls, we have taken from Sri Owen's Classic Asian Cook Book (published by Dorling Kindersley) and have teamed them up with grilled baby corn, which look pretty stunning as well as tasting great.
Prawn Balls with Baby Corn Prawn Balls:
500g (1lb) raw prawns, peeled and deveined
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
60g (2oz) pork fat, chopped (optional)
2 teaspoons potato flour
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger root
1 teaspoon nam pla
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons white breadcrumbs
1 dozen ears of baby corn, sliced into three
Process the prawns, pork fat, egg white, salt, sugar and pepper in a food processor until smooth. Add the flour, garlic, ginger and nam pla and process until well mixed. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Combine the sesame seeds and breadcrumbs on a flat plate. Divide the prawn paste into 24 portions. Roll each portion in the sesame and breadcrumbs mixture shaping it into a ball.
Thread onto bamboo skewers alternating between prawn balls and wedges of baby corn.
Arrange the skewers on a well-oiled baking tray and cook in an oven preheated to (200C/400 F/ gas 6) for 10 minutes.
Mix the chilli oil and sesame oil with the groundnut oil. Transfer the skewers onto a grill pan and grill for two minutes each side, brushing with the oil mixture as you turn them. Serve immediately.
Shopping tip: Buy the best prawns you can afford, you really get what you pay for. Raw prawns from a fishmonger are always going to be better than packaged ones from a supermarket.
Trauma tip: Pre-cook in the oven before the party, then grill just before serving.