Variation On The Traditional Hummus Recipe
Sometimes boredom and a limited selection of ingredients can lead to something tasty. My dinner this evening left me a somewhat under satiated and scanning the fridge revealed not much more that 2/3 can of chickpeas. Hmmm.... Hummus!!!
Note that you will not see salt in the ingredients. I used white miso which imparted a subtle richness along with the salinity that was required.
Ingredients (all measurements approximate, use your taste and judgement)
- 2/3 can of drained and rinsed chickpeas
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- garlic minced (obviously to taste)
- 1 tbsp white miso paste loosened in 2 tbsp water
- cayenne pepper
- 2-3 tbsp tahini
- ground black pepper to taste
Method
- Soften onions and garlic in heated sesame/olive oil
- Add the chickpeas and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring to avoid sticking
- Add the miso mixture
- Stir to coat the chickpeas and add black and cayenne pepper.
- Simmer until chickpeas are glazed and most liquid has evaporated. Let cool to body temperature before continuing to the next step.
- Add the tahini and blend with a hand blender. At this point the mixture will be very thick, add olive oil and/or water slowly until the desired consistency is reached. Olive oil will yield a richer hummus but at the expense of added fat.
At this point most recipes recommend chilling the hummus in a refrigerator until ready to serve. I found that with some residual warmth from the cooking it took on a vastly different character. I recommend you try it before cooling.
Organic Olives and Olive Oil (Danforth & Jones)
I was walking home along the Danforth this afternoon and spotted
a tiny little shop on the East side of Jones just south of
Danforth. The sign was one of those printed vinyl banners with
grommets and rope, tied over whatever previous sign was still in
place. The banner simply said "Olives and Olive Oil". It sounded
intriguing and since I was in no hurry I detoured and went
inside.
It's a smallish retail store with shelves of olive oil in large
cans and a counter top with 5 or 6 stainless steel containers of
various black olives. The proprietor is Turkish and his family
still runs a farm in the old country that they've owned for many
generations. He directly imports the olives and wholesales them to
various locations around town. However, most retail outlets find
his organic olives too pricey after they apply their markup so he's
selling those from this little store.
I tasted a few of them and they were fantastic. I also tried
some of his olive oil and it was out of this world. Apparently it
takes about 4-5 kilos of olives to make one litre of olive oil.
Needless to say, the oil isn't cheap. About $16 for a litre. But
after you taste it you can easily justify the cost.
He has only been open for five weeks so I urge any of you that
live in the area to support his shop. The address is 585 A Jones
Avenue and the phone number is (416) 833-3410.
Look what my friend found in a bag of Tostitos on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
EEEWwwwww! I don't know if this is more disturbing than it is
funny... or more funny than it is disturbing. Follow the link to
Flickr to see a picture of "something" that someone found in a bag
of Tostitos. Ok, that is gross. Now read all the comments, some
are very funny. The ones that say it is a quarter wear thin after
a while :)
Link to
Look what my friend found in a bag of Tostitos on Flickr - Photo
Sharing!
Curry in a Hurry
I got home late tonight as usual but wanted to make some dinner
with enough left over to make some lunches. I had a look at what
was in the cupboard and fridge and came up with the following
recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 small onion
- 3 stalks of celery
- 1 package (8oz?) of fresh mushrooms
- 1 Italian type eggplant
- 1 zucchini
- 1 handful of green beans
- garlic
- ginger
- 1 can of tomatoes
- 1 can of chick peas
- 1 can of coconut milk
- 1/2 jar of pataks curry paste
Steps
- Saute the onion (chopped) in a little canola oil and stir in
some chopped garlic and julienned ginger (once the onion has
started to soften a little)
- Meanwhile slice the eggplant and zucchini into diagonal pieces
and chop the mushrooms, celery and green beans.
- Add about 1/4 jar of the curry paste to the onion, ginger and
garlic mixture, stir briefly and then add the chopped vegetables.
Stir fry for a minute or two.
- Add the coconut milk, tomatoes and chick peas, stir thoroughly
and bring to the boil.
- Add any additional curry paste if it needs it. Simmer for
about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Serve on rice. It made enough for me to have a too-generous
helping, my roommate had some and I have 3 decent lunches to take
to work.