Hummus 2.0

My previous attempts at hummus have always resulted in a drier almost crumbly mix. Tasty as hell, good nutritious protein, but a dip it is not. I always presumed this was a combination of a hand blender that is not up to task, lack of patience on my part, or the fact that I was sparing on all those calorie rich oils and tahini.

Not so. As an experiment, I decided to try a different tack this morning. I got my recent batch of chickpeas, scooped out a suitable amount and gave them a quick mash with a fork. Enough to break the skin, and split them up a bit, but we are not replacing the blender here.

Yeah, I know you are meant to remove the skins. Life’s too short, don’t set the Cuisine-quisition on me.

I chucked them all in the container, and doused them with a respectable amount of lemon juice. By respectable, I mean, I have no idea how much – at least a full lemons worth if you are freshly squeezing them, maybe 2 tablespoons if you are using juice from a bottle.

I topped off with the oil (maybe 1-2 tablespoons) and set the mix aside to see if letting it develop has any kind of effect.

2 hours later I am back from the pool and the shops, and I set about blending it. Whatever happened it blended smoothly first go, into the smooth paste that you are meant to have.

The flavour was divine – lemon juice stronger than I usually have it, but not overpowering. In fact the main ingredients were in perfect balance (the tahini, garlic, lemon juice, spices – cumin, coriander, paprika and a little chilli powder, as well as the usual stalwart – half a jar of sundried tomato pesto.

Absolutely gorgeous. Didn’t make enough at all. Will be all eaten soon.

Non-traditional Hummus (aka crazy chickpea mash)

 

I like chickpeas. They are a really good, healthy, satisfying food. They make vegetarian food filling, and absorb flavours in wonderful ways. Hummus is middle eastern cuisine – chickpeas mashed and pureed into a paste with lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, tahini (pulped sesame seeds, a bit like peanut butter). Often garnished with some herbs, or ground paprika or cumin, it is used as a dip.

However you can get a lot of different kinds of Hummus out there, in stores, or in recipe cookbooks. Various kinds of flavours embedded in it. Purists argue that this isn’t hummus, and you should call it something different, and they are right. But this post isn’t going to settle the argument, it will just pour olive oil on the flames.

I tend to use Hummus as a food stuff in its own right. Lumped in with salads if available or spread on bread, crackers, bagels etc. I tend to eat more, and I need it a bit more solid than is traditional. In order to get hummus to the paste like consistency that is normally called for, you have to use a lot of oil, and blend like crazy. Blend a lot longer than the motor in my hand blender can take.

Also Hummus soaks up the flavours of whatever you put in. Being adventurous can be very rewarding. When you decide to go crazy with the flavours, you need to decide what to do with the Tahini. Not everyone likes it - think of it like peanut butter that your kids probably wouldn’t like. I do, but the taste of it is subtle with the other ingredients. It can get swamped depending on what you put in. If you are watching the waistline its a big source of calories and fats. Ironically it is quite sticky and can make the hummus hard to blend (especially if it is cold) which will require you to put in more olive oil. Its a bit of a double edged sword that way.

So here are a couple of ideas that I have tried out and found successful:

Hummus with fresh herbs (Mint and Coriander)

This one is fairly straightforward. It is simply a standard Hummus recipe with at least 2 cups of finely chopped herbs thrown in. I use Mint and Coriander/Cilantro, but you can experiment. I would probably avoid any tough herbs like Rosemary or anything that is especially strong. Blend the herbs first to get them nice and fine. Blend the garlic with the herbs. Mix in a can of chickpeas (or a cans worth of dried & cooked chickpeas) along with generous amounts of lemon juice & olive oil. Be careful not to overdo it with the lemon juice as it can dominate the flavour. You can’t really overdo it with the olive oil. If you are calorie counting, apply the olive oil in batches, adding more as the mixture becomes difficult to blend. Put in about a tablespoon of Tahini if you are using it. I also put in about a teaspoon each of ground cumin, ground coriander and paprika. Blend as finely as you can. Ideally there should be no solid chickpeas left, and the mixture should have the consistency of toothpaste.

 

Hummus with Sundried Tomato Pesto

As above, except I cut down on the fresh herbs a lot (about 1 cup finely chopped). I keep in the spices (paprika, cumin & coriander). I add in about half of a small jar of Sundried Tomato Pesto (200-300g jar). Blend well and serve.

This is the tastiest hummus chickpea mash I have ever made. Never fails to attract a crowd. If you have a good blender, you can use pure sundried tomatoes for the same effect. You will probably need to judge the proportions better.

Hummus with Curry Paste (Tandoori)

This is the point where I get totally lynched. This is pure experiment. I had half a jar of Tandoori Curry Paste that I needed to use up. So into the blender it went. I used the ingredients in roughly the proportions of the Sundried Tomato recipe (without the pesto). I also added in a teaspoon of Garam Masala spice, and a teaspoon of mild chilli powder.

It was a worthwhile experiment and it had a nice flavour to it, but the curry paste had a lot of salt in it. Which unfortunately dominated the flavour more than I would like.

Experiment

Once you have the basic recipe to hand, accessorising the flavours becomes easy and fun. Hummus is great party food and its one to impress friends with. If you know any really interesting flavour combinations I would love to hear them.

The Salad of Awesomeness

As healthy food goes, you don’t get much healthier and tastier than this. I used to hate salads until I figured out how to make them properly. I practically live on this. There is a simple plan to this salad:

1. Use the best ingredients you can get.
2. Minimise the amount of green leafy stuff.
3. Put a decent amount of protein in it.
4. Use a killer vinaigrette.

The salad pictured above would feed me, but really these are proportions for two people. The ingredients are as follows:

• 4 Spring Onions chopped
• 1 carrot finely grated (with some ginger grated into it too for some kick)
• 1/2 bell pepper, chopped small
• Several cherry tomatoes halved (quarter if you are using larger tomatoes)
• 1/2 cup of chopped coriander
• 1/2 cup of chopped rocket (though don’t chop it up as much as the herbs)
• Some finely chopped parsley (not too much its quite strong)
• 1/2 cup of chopped mint

Douse at least 1 tablespoon of vinaigrette over everything. I refined my Super Simple Vinaigrette precisely for this salad. You don’t have to mix or toss the salad too much.

Finally add in all the fun protein food:

• 2 boiled eggs
• A palm full of diced Feta cheese
• A few spoons of soft goats cheese (this mixes delightfully with the salad)
• Whatever else you have to hand (hummus often ends up in my salads, as well as leftover food, like falafels or vegetarian curries).

This is a great salad. The things that make it great are using fresh herbs to replace the leafy content. Proper vinaigrette is essential, as well as using flavourful ingredients. All the protein makes it a meal. If you hate salads, try this and see if it changes your mind.

The best of intentions

Its funny how the best of intentions can crumble away. I started this blog as a way to document by growing culinary experiments and maybe even share advice.

One post. This is a bit embarrassing. There are a whole bunch of half-written posts. Many nearly complete. So over the next couple of days I am going to start posting them up and completing them out.

The Junior Foodies other half went mad

Food is a big social thing for my girlfriend and I. While some couples go out a lot or crash out in front of a TV, our big thing is experimenting with food. Lately it seems to be me that drives the food choices, though that is probably a temporary thing. But this week I let Fiona go mad. It may have something to do with me not having any evenings free.

So on Monday Fiona prepared 2 indian dishes, Potato Masala and a Spicy Aubergine side dish. They were served up with her specialty - home made Naan breads. We also threw in some poppadoms that we picked up in our Asian food store.

This isn't unusual for us, to make a meal entirely out of side dishes. Its a bit odd in retrospect, but it is how we operate. It was glorious.

This evening she made Hot & Sour Beef Soup with Lime. This was accompanied by some kind of mad bread things made up with leftover Naan dough and whatever cheeses were to hand. This was especially nice to come back to - a very hot and very flavourful soup - after my swimming lessons. The chlorine kills my sinuses, making it hard to taste anything. Spicy works a treat.

I am going to try and capture these culinary jamming sessions in a couple of posts. They were adapted from various recipes and infused with an unhealthy amount of junior foodie madness.

Super simple vinaigrette

A good vinaigrette will perk up and add flavour to any salad. If you use it sparingly it doesn't have to compromise any fancy diets that you might be on. It also might make the salad tasty enough for you to stick with the diet.

Making them is easy. Find a suitable container that you can seal properly. I like using old herb/spice containers that have a screw cap, like the Marks & Spencers jars pictured. Here is a simple vinaigrette mix that I use a lot, the quantities are expressed in ratios:

• 5/8 olive oil
• 1/8 balsamic vinegar
• 2/8 red wine vinegar

Shake well prior to using, there is no need to wait for any special infusing to happen.

If you can get your hands on it, look for red wine vinegar that is raspberry infused.

The stuff is very hard to track down. It seems to be a French specialty - a friend who lives in Bilbao alerted me to it, and he can only get it in France. Marks & Spencers used to do it, but you might only find it in larger stores (I can't get it locally). However I lucked out shopping this week, and found some in a health food store (Evergreen). This is a French import, if the lack of English on the bottle is anything to go by. However it is much better than what I got in M&S, the raspberry is much more distinct (twice the price though). Use it as a direct replacement, it makes for an awesome vinaigrette - light, fruity and sweet.

You can go with a stronger proportion of balsamic vinegar too, but I find that it overpowers the food. Whats more interesting is when you experiment with the oils. Hazelnut oil has a very distinctive and pleasant taste that is nice to add into salads. Walnut oil is another good salad oil, but I don't think it would work well in the vinaigrette combination above.

The other main advantage of using a DIY vinaigrette is that you know how much you are putting in the salad. It can be hard to tell with store bought products.

Making Falafel

Tonight I went about making Falafel. This is a fun dish thats easy to enjoy and scale up to multiple people and large groups. Though it can be tricky to make if you are doing it for the first time, or if you do not have access to a really good food processor.

I have used a few recipes in the past. Many insist on frying or deep frying them, but if you haven't made the falafel patties right, they can fall apart easily. This is the recipe that I used:

For the falafel:

• 4 cups of chickpeas
• 1 cup of chopped fresh coriander
• 1/2 cup of chopped fresh mint
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 teaspoons of tobasco sauce
• 2 tablespoons of tahini
• 4 spring onions, chopped finely
• 1 cup of breadcrumbs

• Several pitta breads depending on your number of guests

For the side salad:

• 1 carrot, finely grated
• 1/4 courgette, finely chopped
• 1/4 pepper, finely chopped
• 6 cherry tomatoes, quartered
• Some rocket, chopped roughly
• Tahini sauce, or some suitable dip (like raita)

Step 1: In a food processor, blend the coriander, mint, garlic and spring onions until finely chopped.

Step 2: Add the chickpeas, breadcrumbs, baking powder, cumin, tobasco sauce and tahini and blend until the mixture has a very fine consistency.

Tip: If you are having a hard time blending the mixture (the chickpeas are well tough). Add in some olive oil or lemon juice to get everything moving again. A good food processor makes a lot of difference here.

Step 3: Wet your hands and start to shape the mixture into small balls. They should be sticky and hold together well. It is better to make them smaller rather than bigger, no more than 4cm wide when slightly flattened. You should be able to get over 20 small falafel patties out of the food mix above.

Step 4: At this stage you have a choice of cooking methods: Frying, Deep Frying or baking. If you are a novice, calorie conscious, or your falafel are not holding together perfectly, bake them. Simply place them on a baking tray that has been brushed with oil, and use an oil spray to lightly coat them. Place in a pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes, then remove and turn them so that they get browned on both sides.

Step 5: Wet the pitta bread, and place them in a toaster, or bake them.

Step 6: Cut open the pitta breads (hopefully they have inflated making them easier to do so). Place a mix of the side salad within them, along with as many falafel that will fit, and top off with sauce.

Serve and enjoy.

Leftovers

Leftover falafel are a nice addition to salads, even when cold. They have a nice bread like consistency by themselves (but I wouldn't go dipping them in soups).

Variations

I doubt if this recipe is particularly authentic. Tahini is generally called for in authentic falafels. However you have to add a lot in to get the flavour though as the spices tend to dominate. Also, you need a really good food processor or a lot of patience with a hand blender - tahini is very sticky. You will need to increase the oil a lot to make the blending easier.

If this takes your fancy this recipe will stop being a healthy treat (thats a lot of calories you are adding in). It will likely be stickier though and they may survive better if you are frying them.