I usually have a large monthly planner on the refrigerator. And I realise over the past few months that we’ve been entertaining intensely! We’ve had many groups of people coming; cell group, mentoring groups, family, work colleagues…the security guards seem to know that our condo unit is like party central! They seem to usher everybody in with no questions asked because they are so used to it!
One of the tricks to entertaining is always to have quick and easy appetizers on hand. A simple charcuterie board is extremely easy to execute and I usually have some cheese and deli meats on hand in the fridge. Dips are really easy to do as well, as long as you have canned tuna or frozen spinach on hand. Here I’m going to share a super easy appetizer that looks amazing but is really a flavour bomb. Your guests would be so impressed.
In this recipe I used a seaweed noodle that is absolutely low carb. It was from a pop up store in Isetan and is a little hard to find as they only ship it in intermittently. However, shirataki noodle is a great alternative and I think there are kelp noodles that are available online that are also easy to use. Also I used mainly Japanese store bought ingredients. Japanese Goma or sesame salad dressing is one of my favourite salad dressings and is always in my fridge. I also keep furikake or a kind of Japanese seasoning that is meant to be sprinkled on rice as it is an amazing topping for tofu or shirataki noodles.
The other thing is about presentation. I recently went to Sia Huat, which is an amazing kitchenware outlet store. I was with a friend whose work actually gave her a whopping 40% discount in the store. What was really ironic was that when I walked through the store, I realized that despite wanting to buy lots of stuff (after all I had a 40% discount), but I realised that I already had most of what I needed at home! It’s a sad moment for a kitchen gadgetholic to realise there’s nothing else to buy! But the trip wasn’t wasted because I found these cute appetizer spoons that are great for presenting small bites. I figure if you are entertaining however, even disposable Chinese spoons would work – I’m really into easy entertaining.
So here is the recipe – simple and easy and you can keep it in the fridge until the guests come and you are ready to start serving.
Unagi Seaweed Noodle Bites
Ingredients
- 1 portion of precooked unagi (japanese seasoned eel)
- 200g seaweed or shirataki noodle, prepared according to instructions
- 3 tbsp Japanese sesame salad dressing
- 1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
- 1/2 medium red onion, finely diced
- 3-4 tbsp furikake
Method
- Mix the noodles, red onion, sesame seeds and sesame salad dressing together.
- Cut the unagi into small 1-1.5 cm pieces.
- Using a fork, twirl the noodles into little nests and place into the spoon.
- Top each nest with a piece of unagi and sprinkle the furikake seasoning on top.
- Serve immediately or refrigerate until you are ready to serve.
Still Feeling Peckish 