Healthy & Yummy Dips for Your Next House Party

With the festive season just around the corner, the atmosphere drips with the mood for celebration. If you’re the type that has a slew of house parties to host, menu planning can be quite the nightmare, if not thought through with care. As a party host, it is important to be present with the guests and also make sure that everything moves like clockwork at the party. Dips are an ideal way to commence the eating, as guests enjoy a drink and mingle with one another. It combines the ease of finger food, is high on flavour and can easily be made in big portions for easy storage.

While the standard hummus, guacamole, queso or even the recent butter boards make their appearances on party tables, using everyday kitchen ingredients like chana dal and lauki (snake gourd), offer a cost-effective and hyperlocal approach.

The protein-rich pulse that is a common ingredient in dals, stews and even sweets in India can be spun around on its head to make this creamy, nubbly chana dal dip. It is not only gluten free but also vegan friendly. The ideal way to serve it would be with old school potato chips or Indianize it further by serving it with khakhra.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chana dal, soaked for 4 hours and pressure cooked
• 1 tablespoons cumin sees
• 1 garlic clove
• Salt to taste
• For the tempering + garnish:
• 1 teaspoon chilli powder
• 3 garlic cloves sliced
• 1 medium chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons regular oil or olive oil
• Handful of chopped coriander
• Wedges of lime

Method:

• Add the cooked chana dal, cumin seeds, clove of garlic and salt to a blender jar and blend to a thick, grainy paste. Empty the mix into a bowl.
• Heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan, add the sliced garlic and chilli powder and wait for them to sizzle. Pour over the resting dip in the bowl and top with plenty of chopped onions, coriander and lemon juice.

Laukamole (Guacamole with Snake Gourd)

By virtue of being a vegetable that is low in calories, this dip takes away from the guilt of festive food indulgences. It also saves you the trouble of playing a never-ending game of hide and seek to check if your avocados have ripened or not. Best eaten with toasty pita bread, plain nacho chips or even spread on tortilla wraps, this cousin of guacamole is also antioxidant rich (wink, wink to the binge drinking).

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of snake gourd (roughly dice 2 snake gourds)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons hung curd
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small tomato, chopped
• 2 tablespoons coriander, chopped
• 1-2 red chillies
• Salt to taste
• Sugar to taste

Method:

Steam the snake gourd in a pressure cooker after seasoning with a bit of salt for five to ten minutes. Cool down the steamed gourd and add it to a blender along with the lemon juice, hung curd, garlic and chillies. Add salt and sugar to season and blend well.

Remove the mix into a bowl and combine the onions, tomatoes, coriander and drizzle more lemon juice if necessary.