It’s the most wonderful time of the year! During the holiday season, food is what brings our family together. At Basha’s Shawarma, we know first-hand the joy that preparing, serving, and enjoying food together brings.
This holiday season, we’ve created a how-to guide on how to build a holiday mezze platter that is perfect for sharing with your family, friends, and colleagues over your holiday parties!
First, let’s start with the basics.
What is Mezze?
Mezze, or Meza, is a selection of Mediterranean dishes that are shared in the form of appetizers. These small dishes can be served as a multi-course meal or can be served to make up a whole meal.
A mezze platter is all about variety, it combines a little bit of everything tasty and is presented on a platter, ready for your enjoyment. Your holiday mezze platter is sure to be the perfect appetizer for your celebrations.
What Do You Need To Build A Holiday Mezze Platter?
To build your holiday mezze platter, you’ll first need to figure out how many people you will be serving. This will help you determine what platter size you will need. Once you have the correct platter size, you can start preparing and arranging your mezze.
Mezze Options For Your Holiday Board
Let’s start building your holiday mezze board! First, let’s select your dips. You’ll want to choose a variety of dips to add more flavours to your platter. Read on for these tasty recommendations:
Hummus
Hummus is a delicious golden dip made from chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon, and garlic. This versatile dip pairs well with many dishes and can also be modified to add extra flavours and garnishes. Hummus comes in many varieties, including Basha’s Shawarma’s original, sundried tomato, and cumin olive hummus.
Add the hummus of your choice to a bowl and place it on your platter. If you can’t decide which flavour to add, include multiple options! Basha’s Shawarma offers three selections of hummus for you to enjoy. If you feel like making your own, we have a hummus recipe for you to try.
Baba Ganouj
Baba ganouj, sometimes spelled baba ghanoush, is a dip that is made with eggplant, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. This versatile Lebanese dish is similar to hummus but features eggplant as its star ingredient.
You’ll want to space out your dips across your mezze platter. Add your baba ganouj to a bowl and place it on the opposite side of your platter as your hummus.
Now It’s Time To Choose Your Mezze
In true Lebanese fashion, we recommend adding the following delights to your holiday platter:
Falafel: Falafel is typically made with chickpeas, onions, herbs, and spices! This mixture is then formed into a ball or puck and fried. Falafels can be easily modified to suit your flavour and dietary preferences, and are easily vegan, gluten-free, and rich in protein.
Fried Kibbeh: Fried kibbeh is a Lebanese appetizer made with a cracked whole wheat shell stuffed with ground meat, onions, and pine nuts, served with a garlic yogurt sauce, tomatoes and lemon. Fried kibbeh is a great hand-held appetizer that adds flavour to your holiday mezze board! Spread out the fried kibbeh on your board and surround it with other flavours.
Spinach Pies: This crowd-pleaser dish is sure to be the perfect addition to your holiday mezze platter. Spinach Pies are pocket pies made with spinach, onions, and sumac.
Stuffed Grape Leaves: Grape leaves are lemony appetizers stuffed with a delicious medley of rice, chickpea bits, onions, and diced parsley served with tomatoes and lemon. This dish makes a perfect addition to a mezze platter because they are easy to grab and very tasty. Order this delicious appetizer at Basha’s Shawarma or make them yourself by following our Stuffed Grape Leaves recipe.
Skewers: Add some savory skewers to your mezze mix! Try adding a variety of shish tawook (chicken), shish kabob (beef), and shish kafta (ground beef) skewers to your holiday mezze platter. Skewers are a crowd-favourite and perfect for sharing.
Pita Bread: Add some toasted pita bread triangles in bunches throughout your platter. Pita bread is a great addition to any mezze platter because it balances out all the flavours and tastes great with hummus and baba ganouj!
Garnish: In addition to your main appetizers, you’ll want to add some garnishes around your holiday mezze board. Add in so parsley, olives, and slices of tomatoes, pickles, and lemon between your appetizers.
Share In The Holiday Spirit
We hope you have fun putting together your holiday mezze board and sharing it with your family, friends, and colleagues! For your mezze needs, order fresh food that rules from Basha’s Shawarma. We’re located at 8-500 Manning Road in Tecumseh, Ontario. We also invite you to post photos of your boards on Instagram and tag Basha’s Shawarma. Happy holidays!