Hummus - Middle-Eastern Chickpea Dip

I am a little ashamed to admit that I've never made traditional hummus, using dried chickpeas before. Having made this version for my blog, I've been converted! It really does taste better (and is far cheaper) than making it with tinned pulses. Yes, it takes longer to make,but you can make a large batch and freeze in small portions to make it even more economical.

Serves 8 as a starter or meze dish

• 1 cup dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans), soaked over night with a good pinch of bicarbonate of soda
• a large pinch of salt
• juice of 1 lemon (plus the zest for a more lemony flavour)
• 4 tbsp tahini
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 6-8 tbsp cooking liquid, or more if needed
• paprika and a glug of extra virgin olive oil to garnish

Drain the soaked chickpeas and put in large pan. Cover with boiled water and a pinch of bicarbonate of soda and bring to a simmer. Simmer, in a covered pan, for 1 hour on a low heat.
When tender, drain the pulses, reserving the cooking liquid.

Whilst still warm, place the chickpeas in a blender with all of the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Add enough of the reserved cooking liquid to make a smooth, spreadable paste. 
Taste and add more seasoning and/or garlic, if needed.
Spoon into a bowl and chill until needed.
Before serving, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika.

Serve with fresh bread, olives and salad.

Suitable for freezing; keeps in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Top tips: Double this recipe to make enough to batch freeze. 
If you don't have the time to make hummus using dried pulses, try my quick and easy recipe instead. You might also like my mixed bean and basil hummus.

Flavour options: Omit the cumin and add some extra ingredients into the blender, along with the chickpeas to make these different variations...

• Red pepper and sweet chilli: Add ½ cup of chopped, roasted red peppers (from a jar) and 1-2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce.
• Piri piri: Add 1-2 tbsp of your favourite piri piri sauce. 
• Caramelised onion: Add 2 tbsp of caramelised onion chutney.

I'm entering this recipe to this month's No Croutons Required Challenge, co-hosted by Jacqui at Tinned Tomatoes and Lisa at Lisa's Kitchen. 

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Peanut & Tamarind Falafels for National Curry Week

As you may have realised, my family all love Indian food. So we were excited to find out that Anjum Anand's The Spice Tailor range has now been extended to include a delicious array of curry sauces plus a tasty selection of chutnis. I've been testing out the whole range on my family over the past couple of weeks and they've been really impressed how tasty and authentic the sauces are. I've also loved how quick and easy they are to use.

I've been experimenting with different variations of falafels lately and decided to come up with an Indian-inspired version for National Curry Week, using The Spice Tailor products. I used two varieties from the new chutni range, which are a delicious addition to almost any Asian meal, either as a condiment or as an ingredient.

Makes 12

• 1 tin of chickpeas, drained
• 5 tbsp Spice Tailor peanut & tamarind chutni
• 1 large clove of garlic, crushed
• 1-2 tsp chilli paste/ hot chilli sauce
• 1-2 slices of wholemeal bread, made into breadcrumbs

Put all of the ingredients, except the breadcrumbs, into a food processor and blend for a minute or so. Scrape the ingredients down from the sides of the bowl and repeat until you have a fairly smooth mixture.
Add just enough breadcrumbs to form a fairly stiff, but not dry, mixture.
Roll into 12 balls and flatten slightly.
Chill in the fridge for around half an hour.

Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a large frying pan, on a medium heat.
Cook the falafels for around 4-5 minutes on each side until lightly browned.

Wrap in a chapatti with salad and your favourite dip, sauce or chutney; I served mine with onion salad and mint sauce:

Onion salad

• 1 tsp Spice Tailor mint leaf chutni
• 1 small onion, halved and very finely sliced
• 1" cucumber, halved, deseeded and finely sliced

Indian mint sauce

• 1 tbsp Spice Tailor mint leaf chutni
• ½ cup natural or vegan plain yogurt
• a pinch of sugar, optional

The Spice Tailor range is available from most major UK supermarkets and online.

Integrity Statement

I received a selection of complimentary products from The Spice Tailor to review and to use in recipe development. All views expressed are my own and those of my family.

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Mixed Bean and Basil Hummus - Suma Blogger's Network

Here's my second post for the Suma Blogger's Network. I decided on a variation on hummus using mixed beans rather than chickpeas, and Italian flavourings instead of the traditional Middle Eastern ones. I must say it worked really well and tastes great with crudites or fresh crusty bread.

• 1 tin of mixed beans, rinsed and well drained (I used Suma organic mixed beans)
• a good handful of basil, roughly chopped
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp toasted pine nuts

Blend all ingredients, except for the pine nuts, until smooth. Season to taste.

Drizzle with olive oil and top with the toasted pine nuts.

Chill until needed.

Will keep for a couple of days in an airtight container in the fridge. 

Integrity Statement

As a member of the Suma Blogger's Network, I will receive a selection of complimentary products from Suma every two months, to use in recipe development, and will blog an original recipe for the Network. 

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Guacamole and Guacziki

As a family, we've only recently discovered the delights of guacamole and until now have been buying the ready made tubs. As Morrisons had packs of 4 avocados for £1 this week (that's the same price as 1 tub!), so Miss K and I thought we'd buy some and make our own.

Most authentic recipes seem to include chopped onion, but as neither of the girls like raw onion, we replaced it with garlic.

For the guacamole

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 ripe tomato, deseeded and diced
• 1 small clove of garlic, crushed (or some finely chopped onion)
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• A little chopped jalapeño chilli, to taste
• A little chopped coriander, to taste 

Cut the avocado in half by scoring around lengthwise with a sharp knife.
Twist to separate the two halves.

Scoop the avocado flesh out into a bowl with a spoon, removing the stone as you do so.
Retain the skins and drizzle with half of the lime juice. Wrap and refrigerate until needed.

Add the remaining lime juice to the avocado flesh and mash roughly with a fork.

Add the other ingredients and stir in.

Cover and refrigerate until needed (for a couple of hours at the most, as it will discolor). Serve in the avocado skins.

For the guacziki

I decided to experiment with one of the remaining avocados and came up with guacziki - a kind of vegan tzatziki!

• 1 ripe avocado
• 1 chunk of cucumber, deseeded and diced
• 1 small clove of garlic, crushed
• 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
• A dash of hot chilli sauce, to taste
• A little chopped dill, to taste 

Prepare the avocado as before.

Place in a food processor with the lemon juice, garlic, the scooped out cucumber seeds and seasonings.

Blend until smooth.

Finally, stir in the chopped cucumber.

Cover and refrigerate until needed. 

Top Tip: Pop the avocado stone back into the dip until you are ready to serve. I'm not sure if this really works, but it's supposed to help stop the dip discolouring!

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Hummus (Vegan)

I know some people think that life's too short to make their own hummus, but it it's really easy to make.

If you like super-smooth hummus, you need a decent food processor, but it's way cheaper than shop bought and tastes just as good, if not better! Look out for cheap chickpeas in the world food aisle of you local supermarket, or save even more money by soaking and cooking dried chickpeas.

• 1 tin of chickpeas, drained
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• Grated zest and juice of ½ a lemon
• 3 tbsp light tahini paste
• A good pinch each of ground black pepper, cumin and paprika (or more to taste)
• 2-4 tbsp extra lemon juice or boiled water to thin, if needed 

Empty the chickpeas into a blender/food processor. Add all the rest of the ingredients and start to blend.
Stop every few seconds and stir the mixture. Add some extra liquid, if needed.
Repeat until you have the consistency you like.
Chill until needed and serve with warm pitta bread.

Suitable for freezing.

Alternatives: You can make hummus with just about any pulses, such as cannellini beans, butter beans or haricot beans. You will generally need to add less liquid, as these beans are softer than chickpeas.
Swap the lemon zest for other flavourings such as sun-dried tomatoes, chilli, roasted peppers etc.

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