Pairing Mai Tais With Bar Bites At Your Next Tiki Party? Here are 5 Dishes To Choose From
Hosting a tiki party at home is incomplete without one particular cocktail – the bright and fruity mai tai. Made by bringing together equal parts white and dark rum, the cocktail is as sweet as it is tart, and filled with a complex flavour depth. What ties the blend together is a mix of lime juice and orgeat syrup used in equal proportions to balance out the acidic and nutty notes in the blend. A dash of orange curaçao adds another citrusy and bright layer to the cocktail, lending it a bright finish.
Such a vibrantly flavoured concoction can be paired with bar bites which resonate with similar tropical nuances. Think shrimp skewers and bao buns stuffed with prawns as well as desi pineapple tikka as sweet, spicy and tangy options which can make up the tiki-inspired culinary spread you prepare for an island-themed party featuring mai tai variations.
Read on below for a tiki platter guide, complete with the bright and flavourful bar bites that would level up your tropical-themed event by several notches:
Grilled Pineapple Tikka
Marinate pineapples in a sweet and spicy sauce made using yogurt, herbs and desi masalas and char grill it on an open flame. The tangy, sweet fruit coated in the bright flavours of the spicy marinade will acquire a soft and smoky texture upon grilling. These tastes blend well with the similarly fruity and sweet profile of tiki drinks, like a mai tai variation crafted using fresh pineapple juice. The smoky notes of the tikka simultaneously become a contrasting element that builds into the sweetness of the cocktail, lending the pairing a more complex quality.
Coconut Shrimp And Spicy Mango Dip
Think shrimp coated in well-seasoned desiccated coconut that is doused in a beer batter before being skewered and grilled. This lightly crunchy, tropical bar bite carries a very interesting texture which balances the tartness of lime and orange curaçao in a classic mai tai. Moreover, when served with a spicy mango dip – whose flavour contrasts the deep sweet and smoky notes of the shrimp – the cocktail and food pairing acquires a bright, tropical and fruity nuance that fits into the overall tiki theme of the gathering.
Also Read: DIY Mai Tai: Recipe, Rum Ratios And Garnishing – All You Need To Know
Tropical Fruit Ceviche
This fresh, vibrantly flavoured salad makes for an excellent culinary pairing at a tiki party featuring the sweet, tart and tangy notes of a fruity mai tai. Bring together prawns with lime, orange, passion fruit, and diced tropical fruits like papaya and kiwi to make a zingy, zesty dish that undercuts some of the tart notes in the mai tai. The ceviche’s acidic, lightly tart, crunchy, chewy qualities are what will make it stand its own alongside a vividly flavoured cocktail.
Shrimp Tempura Bao
Soft from the outside and crispy from the inside, baos are among some of the sumptuous bar bites that can be prepared at a tiki party, featuring sweet and tangy flavours. Craft shrimp tempura baos with tangy mayo stuffing and a dash of miso to lend it that umami quality. This bar bite can be served alongside a coconut-infused mai tai which carries the dense flavours of coconut cream that go well with the crunchy notes of the shrimp. The baos can be served alongside a nutty dipping sauce to build more earthy elements into the tiki platter.
Huli Huli Chicken
This Hawaiian-style chicken dish, which involves marinating chicken in pineapple juice, soy sauce, ginger, and brown sugar before grilling, invokes the tiki theme of the party rather aptly. Perfectly grilled pieces of chicken marinated in this sweet, tangy and umami sauce echo the tropical nuances of the flavours found in the mai tai, finished off with an added smoky edge which comes from the open charcoal flame. In fact, the smokiness of the bar bite plays into the fruity notes in the mai tai to render a layered depth to the pairing.
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