These 4 Easy Snacks Recipes Make For Perfect Match Day Munchies
Match day parties are great in how they let you share the highs and lows of the game with your close ones. Whatever be the outcome for your favourite team, your guests will certainly remember the experience you curate for them… be it through food and drinks, after-party banter or themed decor flourishes. Among these, food certainly plays an outsize role in making an impression, while still letting sport take centre stage. With the snacks menu we’ve compiled for you, your match day parties will never be a consolation prize!
(Pro tip: Do spend some time on the garnishes as well. Think team flags on toothpicks, miniature cricket bats for drinks stirrers, paper replica jerseys for banners, and more!)
Veggie Crisps
A super versatile recipe that your health conscious guests will love digging into. You can use any starchy root veggie and vegetables belonging to the cabbage family for this snack. Here, we’ve made use of beetroots, artichokes, carrots and celeriac.
How to make it —
1. Preheat the oven to 120°C.
2. Thinly and evenly slice the vegetables you’re using, and pat dry on a towel.
3. Spread out the sliced veggies on different baking trays (group them based on how much time each takes to bake) ensuring they don’t overlap. Sprinkle salt over the slices and brush or drizzle a little olive oil.
4. Bake the veggies from 30 mins to a couple of hours. Remove the trays with the veggies as they crispen accordingly, and let them cool.
5. Serve with a spoonful of honey and salt flakes.
Sweet Corn Fritters With Avocado Salsa
When emotions are running high, there's always a craving for fried food. This recipe pairs delicious fritters with a classy avocado salsa.
For the fritters —
420 gm corn kernels
1/2 cup plain flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives
2 green onions, finely sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
For the salsa —
1 avocado, chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 red capsicum, finely chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
How to make it —
1. In a bowl, mix the corn, flour, eggs, chives and onion.
2. Heat oil in a large non-stick pan on a moderate flame.
3. Use 1 tablespoon of the mixture per fritter and fry both sides until golden and crispy.
4. For the salsa, simply muddle the avocado and lemon juice in a bowl. Add capsicum, onion, coriander and sweet chilli sauce, and stir the mixture. Enjoy with the fritters!
Blue Cheese, Pumpkin & Date Bites
A burst of flavour awaits your guests when they munch on these little bites. The perfect break for tension-filled moments during the match. Bonus: these are extremely easy to make, so you won’t lose any of the play time action even if you have to prep more of these midway through.
You’ll need —
1 kg butternut pumpkin, peeled and cubed (small)
6 fresh dates, seeded and finely chopped
100 gm blue cheese, crumbled
8 slices prosciutto, cut into thirds, lengthwise
Fresh thyme sprigs
How to make it —
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a baking tray with baking/parchment paper.
2. Mix the cheese with the dates, and place a teaspoonful of this mixture onto each of the pumpkin cubes. Wrap each pumpkin piece in a strip of prosciutto, enclosing the cheese mixture carefully. Place each wrapped parcel onto the baking tray.
3. Bake for 15 minutes or until the prosciutto appears golden and crisp. Remove the tray from the oven, cover it with a foil, and return it to bake for 20 minutes more. The pumpkins should be tender.
4. Sprinkle the bites with thyme before serving.
Loaded Potato Skins
Does the perfect finger food exist? Yes! Check out the recipe for this mouth-watering appetiser.
You’ll need —
4 medium potatoes, scrubbed
55 gm (1 cup) finely grated cheddar
1 avocado, mashed
100 gm cherry tomatoes, chopped
2 green shallots, trimmed and sliced
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
How to make it —
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Prick the potatoes with a knife. Place them on a baking tray and bake for 1.5 hours or until they are tender. Keep them aside until they cool off.
3. Then, scoop off a chunk of potato so that only a 1 cm-thick shell remains. Cut these shells into halves and place them back on the baking tray. Spray a little oil over them and bake for 20 minutes or until they are crisp.
4. Sprinkle cheese on top of the potato shells and bake again until all the cheese melts.
5. Meanwhile, mix avocado, tomato, shallots and lime juice in a bowl and top the potato shells with this mixture.
With these recipes in hand, we promise the biggest winner will be your reputation as a host!
