The arrival of the coronavirus has certainly had an enormous impact on our everyday lives. Suddenly, many of us were forced to remain in the safety of our homes, leaving us unable to interact with our colleagues, friends, and family.
Fortunately, the increasing availability of the COVID-19 vaccine indicates that the worst of the pandemic seems to be easing, which means it’s almost time to make up for all the missed opportunities to hang out with one another.
Make your next dinner party a night to remember by serving the following dishes, and hopefully you won’t have to wait another year and a half to host another one!
Lumpiang Shanghai—Because Eating with Our Hands Is OK Again
In the early days of the pandemic, we were all deathly afraid of touching anything handled by another person, for fear of contracting the virus through contaminated objects. At that point, our understanding of the virus and its behaviors was relatively limited. It’s only fairly recently that we’ve found out that surface transmission through fomites, while possible, isn’t nearly as effective a vehicle for the virus as, say, droplets issued from an infected person’s mouth or nose.
Now that we have a clearer picture of what’s allowed and what isn’t when it comes to personal safety, we can go back to eating in fun ways again, like with our hands. Almost everyone has a good lumpiang shanghai recipe and they’re a fun, popular option as a starter finger food. Guests can simply pick them up with their hands or with some tissue and start snacking away. The spring rolls themselves are versatile and accommodate a host of different fillings, from the classic mix of carrots, shallots, and ground pork to a vegetarian version featuring textured vegetable protein and plenty of green onions. Just don’t forget to include the sweet chili dipping sauce, and make some extras to serve with post-dinner drinks!
Pancit Canton—Because No Celebration Is Complete without Noodles
Your next dinner party should be an opportunity to blow off some steam and relax in the company of friends and family. After more than a year of being cooped up inside your home, it would be fair to assume that quite a bit of steam has been built up in all of us. Your next dinner party should feel like a celebration, and for Filipinos, every celebration must feature a noodle dish of some sort.
Some people prefer the traditional sweet spaghetti that Filipinos have become renowned for, but pancit canton has been given special mention here as it’s a more traditional dish and often features interesting ingredients, including quail eggs, liver, and gizzard. The smorgasbord of unique flavors and textures establishes pancit canton as a must-have, making even small gatherings a little more festive. They are referred to as birthday noodles for a reason, after all.
Hot Pot—Because Cooking with Your Friends Is Fun
One of the conflicts that dinner party hosts inevitably run into is how to be a good host while also preparing something delicious for their guests. How do you make your guests feel welcome while also ensuring that your food is good? This conflict is exacerbated by the current situation: given that it may have been more than a year since you’ve seen your friends, you’d naturally want to spend as much time catching up with them as possible. But then, what to do about the food?
Simplify your hosting duties by getting your friends to participate in the cooking along with you. Just prepare some thinly sliced meats, vegetables, and noodles, along with a flavorful stock, and you’re set. You can enjoy your time with your guests seated around the table, chatting and laughing while making a delicious stew for yourselves.
Compost Cookies—Because Dessert Should Never Be Left Out
Any of the standard cakes could easily have been included here, but cookies seemed like an appropriate way to close the meal because, again, eating with your hands is acceptable once again. These cookies take the time-honored classic of a chocolate chip cookie and turn it on its head, incorporating pretzels, potato chips, coffee grounds, and light corn syrup into the dough. The result is a cookie that is in turns chewy, crunchy, sweet, and salty, and with just a slight hint of bitterness to clean eaters’ palates and keep them wanting more. It’s also the perfect treat to serve along with post-dinner coffee or tea, which, when combined with more laughs and some good conversation, would be the perfect way to end the evening.
Dinner parties may have been hard to come by during the quarantine, but they’ll be making a comeback very soon as more and more people get vaccinated. Make sure that the one you host is memorable, not because it was the first one in a long while, but because everyone had lots of fun and ate extremely well.
