Christmas day is around the corner making it the best time to show your cooking skills and woo guests with simple but delicious cooking recipes. Make this festival a memorable one by putting your hands on the following top 5 recipes that are definitely going to be a showstopper.
Let's look at the following crowd-pleasing quick Christmas dinner ideas:
Berry Meringue Wreath
Preheat the oven tray and play a parchment paper with the tracing of a wreath. In a bowl whisk 8 egg whites, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar and half teaspoon salt until the mixture is thick and opaque. Add 3 and a half cup confectioners' sugar gradually until stiff and shiny peaks form. Drop dollops of meringue on the parchment using the template as the guide and bake the meringue until it is dry, crisp and pearly white on the outside.
To prepare the cranberry sauce, add cranberries, ⅓ cup sugar and ½ lemon juice in medium saucepan and cook on low flame until the cranberries are soft and the sugar is completely dissolved. Set the mix aside and allow it to cool completely. Gently add 4 cups raspberries and 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds to the mixture. Take 1 cup heavy cream and whip it until soft peaks form. Spread the whipped cream on the meringue and add cranberry sauce on the top with spoon and sprinkle some mint leaves for an appealing festive meringue wreath.
Sausage rolls
Preheat the oven and stack 2 sheets of puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and cut in required shape and size, preferably rectangular shape. Apply beaten egg on one end and lay a piece of sausage at the other end. Sprinkle some thyme leaves to season the sausage and add salt and ground black pepper as per taste.
Roll all the sausages and keep then in the fridge for 20 minutes. Remove the sausage rolls from the fridge once the pastry hardens and make slits on top of the pastry or prick with a fork to make it more appealing. Apply the remaining beaten egg on the top of the pastry before baking it golden-brown and crisp. Serve the savoury sausage rolls hot and crisp.
Onion laced crispy chicken
Heat oil in a wok and add chicken coated in potato starch. Fry until the meat is crisp on the outside and tender inside. Remove the chicken and add ginger, Sichuan pepper, garlic and chillies as per taste to the same hot oil. Pour in your preferred wine when aroma starts coming out from the mixture.
Add the spring onions and the crispy chicken to the wok. Add salt, pepper, chicken powder and sugar and toss everything together. Use chopped spring onions and toasted sesame seeds for garnishing. Drizzle Sichuan pepper oil for the final finishing touch. Serve hot with steamed rice.
Peanut noodles
Add some peanut butter to 3 tablespoons soy sauce and whisk the mixture for the sauce, add some boiling water and set it aside. Heat oil in a pan over a high flame to stir-fry vegetables, garlic and shredded chicken. After cooking the mix for 5–7 minutes, add boiled noodles, the peanut and stir thoroughly. Serve the flavourful stir-fried noodles hot.
Chicken soup
Take a pan and heat butter on low flame. Add the onions, celery and carrots and stir fry until soft. Take 1 tablespoon corn flour in a bowl and add 2-ounce cold water to thicken the soup. Add chicken stock with corn flour mix to the pan and bring the mixture to the boil. Season the hearty soup with salt, pepper and parsley.
