We recognise that at many events food preparation should be kept to a minimum – for logistic reasons it can be too complicated to prepare, transport, store and serve side dishes and salads.
However we know that some occasions warrant a small amount of food preparation, possibly those which are on a smaller scale or have good facilities on hand. The following recipes are convenient for ‘scaling up’ for crowds and can also significantly stretch your meat budget.
Salads
- Asian Coleslaw
- Healthy Pasta Salad
- Mexican Bean Salad
- Japanese noodle salad
- Tabbouleh
- Rustic Potato Salad
- Couscous salad
- Lentil, beetroot and feta salad
- Healthier Meat Patties
- Quick fruit salad; start with large tins of fruit salad in natural juice. Add in fresh seasonal fruit such as grapes, banana, strawberries, watermelon, kiwi fruit or citrus. Serve in recyclable paper cups.
Check out our Salad Dressing recipes for ideas on jazzing up your salads.
Soups
Soups can also be a crowd pleaser in cooler weather, and are very economical and convenient to serve. Try these recipes or your own:-
Creative Barbecues
The following barbecue ideas are suitable when you have a flat hot plate on hand:-
BBQ yiros meat and serve in wraps with shredded lettuce and diced tomato
Healthy hamburgers: bbq ‘Healthier Meat Patties’, serve hamburger bun as base. Top with cucumber, tomato and condiments. Use lettuce leaves as top of hamburger instead of bread to hold everything in place.
BBQ stir fry
- On a large flat hot plate, fry strips of meat (chicken, kangaroo or beef) and then add sliced onions and garlic and ginger if you wish. Add in large amounts of shredded cabbage, some frozen vegetables and green beans. Toss through a couple of bags of Hokkien noodles and soy sauce and a small amount of honey, lemon juice and tomato sauce until heated through. Serve in recyclable paper cups or noodle boxes.
BBQ fried rice.
- Pre-cook a large batch of rice, cool and transport chilled to your venue.
- Scramble 6-12 eggs on the hot plate, depending on the size of your crowd. – set aside.
- Heat onion (and garlic and ginger if using) on hot plate.
- Add diced carrots, large volume of shredded cabbage and a pack of frozen peas and corn. Canned baby corn or water chestnuts can be added. Other vegetables as you desire, mushrooms, capsicum etc.)
- Drizzle in soy sauce at end to taste, and add cooked egg back in to the mix.
- Serve in recyclable paper cups or noodle boxes.
BBQ corn
- Remove husks and silk from corn.
- Turn regularly on hot plate until browned.
Resource: OPAL (SA Health)