Ring in the New Year with these chef-recommended classic cocktails and delicious dishes

On New Year's Eve, there is hardly any restaurant or even a hotel available to dine. Besides, almost every eatery including cafes, clubs as well as fine dining usually hikes their prices. This comes in the way of our New Year's celebration. As a solution, many today prefer either hosting or attending house parties. Attending a house party is not just economical but is also a great way to kickstart your new year in the presence of your loved ones.

The countdown for 2024 has already begun. With the new year just 10 days away, it is time to put in motion all the preparations for the celebration. If you are planning on throwing a house party for your friends and family, and wish to make it a memorable one, getting food choices right is paramount.

To get you the right options that ensure a perfect blend of flavours, Mid-day Online reached out to chefs who recommend dishes - from cocktails to desserts, that are best to be served at house parties.

Let Me Get Some
This cocktail is a great way to incorporate seasonal fruit in party cocktails to compliment the winter season with New Year's celebrations.

Ingredients:
Fresh orange chunks - quantity as desired
Fresh basil leaves - a handful
Homemade orange puree - 1 cup
Top-up ginger ale - as needed

Method:
1. In a cocktail shaker, combine fresh orange chunks, fresh basil leaves, and homemade orange puree, and top up with ginger ale.
2. Muddle and shake all the ingredients thoroughly with ice for optimal flavour infusion.
3. Using a double strain, carefully pour the mixture into a coupe glass.
4. Garnish the cocktail with a twist of orange peel and a few fresh basil leaves.

Raise your glass and enjoy the refreshing and vibrant taste of the Let Me Get Some cocktail.

Recipe by Ciel Bistro, Andheri

Brown Butter Old Fashioned Cocktail
This cocktail is sure to elevate the senses giving cocktail enthusiasts a fresh twist.

Ingredients for the cocktail:
Brown buttered whiskey - 50 ml
Christmas syrup - 1 tsp
Ice cubes - as required

To make Brown Buttered Whiskey

Ingredients:
Unsalted Butter - 150 gm
Whiskey - 600 ml

Method:
1. In a pan melt the butter and keep stirring at medium heat until you get a brown colour. Pour into a container, keep it in a freezer overnight and filter through a coffee filter.
2. Dispose the butter solids and bottle the liquid.

To make Christmas Syrup

Ingredients:
Filtered Water - 100 ml  
Orange Juice - 100 ml
Sugar - 250 gm
Cinnamon sticks - 4
Cloves - 8
Star Anise - 2
Orange peels - from 2 oranges

Method:
1. Add all the ingredients to a pan at medium heat and stir for 10 minutes. Cool it down, filter and bottle it up. This syrup enjoys a shelf life of one month and can be for future use as well.

For assembling the cocktail:
1. Mix both, Christmas syrup and brown buttered whiskey with ice cubes. Filter and pour it over a nice ice block in an old-fashioned glass.
2. Garnish the cocktail with a star anise on top of the ice block and serve.

Recipe by Alexandre Renoue, Beverage Manager at Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai

Orange Sesame Mianjin
This dish is great to pair with your cocktails and get started with your food indulgence in the evening. A mix of spicy and tangy flavours will ensure that your taste buds get tingled.

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To make the orange sauce
Ingredients:
Orange Juice - 1 cup
Sunflower Oil - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 1/2 cup or Honey - 2 tbsp
Dark soy sauce - 2 tbsp
Cornstarch - 2 tbsp
Water - 2 tbsp
Chopped green chilli - 1/4 tsp
Sesame oil - 1 tbsp
Finely chopped ginger - 1/4 tsp
Finely chopped garlic cloves - 2
Rice vinegar or white vinegar - 2 tbsp
Orange zest - from 1 orange

Method:
1. Mix all the ingredients well till the sugar dissolves and store it in a jar.

To make pakodas:
Ingredients:
Dried Plant-Based Meat - 250 gm
Water - 1 ltr
Orange sauce - 100 ml
Cornstarch - 1/3 cup
Flour - 1/3 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Oil for frying

For garnishing:
Green onions - as required
Orange zest - a pinch
Black and white sesame seeds - 2 pinches

Method:
1. Put water to a gentle boil in a pan and place the dried chaap into it. Cook for 25 - 30 minutes on medium flame. Let it rest for another 30 minutes.
2. Rinse and cut the chaap into small pieces. Soak it in orange juice and a teaspoon of salt overnight.
3. Once soaked well, sprinkle cornstarch and flour. Deep fry and remove excess oil.
4. In a wok, on medium-high heat, add oil. Saute chopped ginger, garlic, and chilli. Don't let it burn. Deglaze with vinegar, and add orange juice. Let it reduce.
5. Make a slurry using cornstarch and water, set aside.
6. Once the mixture is reduced, add half the orange zest and mix well. Pour in the cornstarch slurry slowly while stirring constantly.
7. Add in the chaap pakodas, and gently toss with the sauce.
8. Serve hot, garnished with sesame seeds and orange zest.

Recipe by Executive Chef Vinod Dontul, Bustle

Party Poppers
This quick and easy appetiser, with just a few ingredients and even fewer steps, will make entertaining the guests easy without the hassle of fussing over the oven throughout the evening.

Ingredients:
Cream cheese - 1/2 cup
Shredded sharp cheddar cheese - 1/2 cup
Mini sweet peppers, halved lengthwise, seeds and membranes removed - 12
Bacon - 12 slices

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil.
2. Mix cream cheese and cheddar cheese in a bowl until evenly blended. Fill each halved pepper with the cheese mixture.
3. Join the halves together and wrap each of them with a slice of bacon. Arrange the bacon-wrapped peppers on the prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake the poppers in a preheated oven for about 25 - 30 minutes or until the bacon is crispy.
5. Serve hot with your favourite dipping sauce.

Tip: For those who like it hot, swap the mini sweet peppers for spicy jalapeños.

Recipe by Chef Alok Das, Head Chef, Escobar

Grill Chicken Pimento Rice
For foodies who enjoy subtle flavours, this dish is just perfect. Not too greasy, not too pungent, Grill Chicken Pimento Rice is a perfect main course dish if you wish to go a little easy on your stomach.

Ingredients:

For pimento rice:
Basmati rice - 1 cup
Water - 2 cups
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Pimento (Allspice) - 1 tsp, ground

For grill chicken:
Chicken- breast - 2
Crushed garlic - 7 to 6 cloves
Lemon juice - 1/2 lemon
Green chillies - 1 to 2
Mixed Herb - 1 tbsp
Thaim - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Mixed bell peppers - 1 each
Cilantro/coriander - for garnish

Method:
1. In a bowl, mix crushed garlic, green chillies, thyme, lemon juice, salt, and oil. This will be used to marinate the chicken.
2. Apply the paste to well-washed chicken breast and bell peppers. Set them aside for 20 minutes to marinate.
3. In the meantime, rinse the basmati rice under cold water until the water runs clear.
4. In a medium-sized saucepan, combine the rinsed rice, water, salt, and olive oil. Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat.
5. Once it boils, reduce the heat to low, cover the saucepan with a tight-fitting lid, and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the rice is tender and the water is absorbed.
6. While the rice is cooking, preheat a grill pan. Grill the marinated chicken breast and bell peppers in the hot pan. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Let it rest for seven minutes.
7. Fluff the cooked rice with a fork, add ground pimento (allspice), and mix well.
8. Garnish the grilled chicken with cilantro.
9. Serve the Grill Chicken Pimento hot over a bed of aromatic Pimento Rice.

Recipe by Executive Chef, Brundaban Nayak, CIEL Bristo.

Amritsari Meat Pulao
Amritsari meat pulao is a fantastic choice for family get-togethers and especially for New Year celebrations. It is a meal in itself which needs a good raita and some onion salad as accompaniment to further elevate the taste buds. This one is very easy to make and a satisfying dish which gives the hosts enough time to celebrate with their guests.

Ingredients:
Long grain Basmati rice - 250 gm
Chopped mutton - 250 gm
Mutton bones - 250 gm
Curd - 80 gm
Bay leaf - 2
Green cardamom - 3
Black cardamom - 1
black peppercorn - 10-12
Cloves - 4
Ginger paste - 3 tsp
Garlic paste - 3 tsp
Coarse green chillies paste - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Desi ghee - 4 tbsp
Water - 1.5 ltr
Sliced onions - 2
Oil for frying

Method:
1. Soak rice for an hour.
2. Boil the mutton bones in water. Scum the impurities while it is boiling. Add whole spices and let it boil for 45 - 50 minutes. Strain the stock and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a pot on medium flame, then add the finely sliced onions and cook until it turns golden.
4. Add some water to release the colour from the onions.
5. Add mutton and braise it for a good 20 minutes. Add ginger garlic and green chilli paste. Cook it for another 10 minutes.
6. Add some stock and let the mutton cook for a good one hour until it becomes soft.
7. Drain the soaked rice and add it to the mutton. Then, gently mix and add the remaining stock, the quantity of rice to water ideally has to be 1:2. Add salt to taste.
8. Cook on high heat for 10 -15 minutes or until the rice soaks up the flavourful stock and has almost cooked to 80 per cent.
9. Now reduce the flame, place a griddle underneath the pan, seal it with a heavy lid to avoid the steam going out and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
10. Turn off the flame and allow the rice to further cook in the steam inside the pan for another 10-15 minutes. Do not open the lid.
11. After you allow it some time to cook, add ghee. Gently mix and serve with masala raita if you wish.

Recipe by Chef Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Director of Culinary for Roseate Hotels and Resorts

Double Down Pizza
Any party is incomplete without pizzas. Be it a simple Margherita pizza or a Pepperoni pizza, this Italian dish is a universal favourite.

Ingredients:
Pizza dough - 300 gm
Semolina flour - 100 gm
San Marzano tomato pelati sauce - 70 gm
Fresh basil - 2 gm
Pepperoni - 25
Extra virgin olive oil - 5 ml
Mozzarella - 85 gm
Scamorza - 10 gm

Method:
1. Take the pizza dough and hand stretch it to 13 inches so that once the pizza is baked it will come down to 11 inches.
2. After the dough is stretched, sprinkle some semolina flour to the marble top and then keep the dough, so that your dough doesn't stick to the table.
3. Apply San Marzano tomato pelati sauce with some fresh basil, salt, pepper and extra. virgin olive oil to the stretched pizza base.
4. Then add a mixture of mozzarella cheese and scamorza cheese.
5. After that, top it up with a good 25 pieces of pepperoni.
6. Take the base on a perforated peel to pick it up and slide it inside the oven.
7. Adjust the temperature of the oven to not more than 400 degrees Celsius.
8. Cook it for roughly three minutes.
9. Cut into eight slices and brush with some extra virgin olive oil.

Please note: You can adjust the size of the pizza based on the quantity you require.

Recipe by Chef Shahbaz Shaikh, Head Chef, Lil Gamby

Apple Pie
Ensure your house party ends on a sweet note. Besides ordering ice-creams or any other desserts from outside, you can also choose to treat your guests with an all-time favourite apple pie.

To prepare the crust:
Ingredients:
All-purpose flour - 2 1/2 cups
Unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes - 1 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Granulated sugar - 1 tsp
ice water - 1/4 to 1/2 cup

Method:
1. In a food processor, combine the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the cold, cubed butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
2. Gradually add ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the dough just comes together.
3. Divide the dough in half, shape each half into a disc, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
4. Roll out one disc on a floured surface to fit your pie dish. Place it in the dish, trimming any excess dough hanging over the edges.

You can also buy pie crust from any store and simply follow the steps mentioned on the pack to prepare the base.

To prepare the pie filling:
Ingredients:
Apple - 1 kg
Brown Sugar - 200 gm
Jaggery - 100 gm
Cinnamon powder - 5 gm
Butter - 100 gm
Cream - 100 gm
Pie crust - packaged or homemade

Method:
1. Peel, core, and thinly slice the apples.
2. In a bowl, mix the sliced apples with brown sugar, jaggery, and cinnamon powder.
3. In a pan, melt butter over medium heat. Add the apple mixture and cook until the apples are tender and coated with the sugar mixture.
4. Assemble the pie. Line the pie dish with the prepared pie crust. Fill it with the cooked apple mixture.
5. Cover the pie with another layer of pie crust or create a lattice pattern.
6. Bake in a preheated oven at 190 degrees Celcius for about 40-45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
7. While the pie is baking, prepare the cream by whipping it until soft peaks form.
8. Once the pie is done, let it cool for a while before serving. Top each slice with a dollop of whipped cream. Enjoy your delicious apple pie!

Recipe by Head Chef Radheshyam Mishra, Café Corra