Pick & Dip Platter

Funke Koleosho's Pick & Dip Platter

The festive season in upon us, and its time for wining and dining...! As expected, I get to host lots of friends and family during this season and sometimes, truthfully, I run out of ideas of what to serve. This situation worsens by the fact that I always want to serve something different, something new to excite my guests. So you can see, its a real brain storm session in the kitchen over what to serve.

To help out those who find themselves in my situation, I will be running a couple of posts in the following weeks on exciting new festive food ideas, and I hope you will find it useful.

First up is the Pick & Dip Platter:
This is a dish to serve to promote friendship and togetherness. It's a medley of all time favourite "knick-knacks" served with a delicious (and spicy) dip. This can be served as a first or second course, while you make the main meal.

You can use a variety of meats, seafood or vegetables....just about anything that will combine well with a tomato base spicy dip. Check out details below...

What you need

• Courgettes
• Mushrooms
• Raw king prawns or tiger prawns
• Lean beef (Chicken breast can also be used as an alternative or in combination)
• Ripe plantain
• Puna Yam
• Chicken gizzards
• Tom berry tomatoes
• Pre made dipping sauce (This could be Pepe Rose sauce or Ata Dindin from two of my previous posts. Or you can use your own signature spicy dip recipe)

What to do

1. Peel the yam and cut into cubed chunks, rinse. Sprinkle with some salt and deep fry until golden brown. Set aside.
2. Cut the courgettes and mushrooms into equal sized chunks, rinse. Heat some oil in a griddle  and grill both until cooked.
3. Peel the plantain and cut into chunks. Deep fry the plantain until golden brown. Place fried plantains on some kitchen towel to remove excess oil. Set aside
4. Cut beef into large pieces, rinse. Boil the beef pieces, seasoned with some onions, garlic and salt. Once cooked to tenderness. grill until crispy on the outside in an oven. Set aside
5. Shell and de-vein the prawns. Grill prawns on a hot griddle until done. 
6. Clean the chicken gizzards. Boil gizzards until soft, seasoned with some onions. garlic and salt. When cooked, grill until crispy on the outside in an oven.
7. Skew pieces of each of the cooked items on tooth picks of satay sticks. 
8. Arrange on a large tray or lazy Suzy and serve with some dipping sauce.