“in the kitchen”
so i’ve been into some good new culinary things lately. three things i will mention-
1. Making my own hummus/humus/hommous. I’ve never done this before but I just started because Bj eats lots of humus and all those plastic containers were bothering me. Also cos Bj got a food processor to facilitate his new fad vegan diet. So I’ve made a couple of batches of hommous, starting with dry chickpeas, soaking them etc. It’s pretty great but I use lots of garlic and I think it would be better if I cooked the garlic first. If anyone has any tips for making great hommous please share.
2. Dates dipped in tahini – this is a really delicious treat. sweet and nutty. an amazing conversation takes place between the date and the tahini once you start chewing it up.
3. Fried plantain. You cut the plantain up in diagonal slices and then fry it in some oil until it’s brown on both sides then add some salt. It’s a west indian delight.
daveg wrote,
I reckon if you roasted the garlic in the oven before putting it into hommus, it could be good.
Link | December 16th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Brett wrote,
Oh, Vic and I had a great plantain dish at a Venezuelan restaurant in Manhattan … God knows how to do links here, but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantains#Yo-Yo read all about it on wikipedia.
Shame we can’t actually find out what the cheese is or what the chocolate sauce we had with it had inside, or we’d eat these by the dozen. Probably for the best
Link | December 16th, 2008 at 8:15 pm
beccy joe wrote,
yo-yo sounds delish. i will ask my venezuelan friend if he has a recipe.
also dave i think you are right about roasting the garlic.
Link | December 17th, 2008 at 2:15 am
serena wrote,
hummous –
i have a couple of tips….
just put in one or two cloves of garlic! don’t put in much at all.
put in LOTS of lemon juice.
put in about 1/2 cup of water to make it creamier.
put in a bunch of salt.
don’t put in any oil.
if you follow these simple tips you will have perfect hummous.
Link | December 17th, 2008 at 9:20 am
beccy joe wrote,
wow serena i didnt realise you were a queen of hummous. i have been using lots of oil. i thought oil would make it better. i will follow your instructs next time however.
Link | December 17th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
nik wrote,
Becky… dawn and i duel over hommous making regularly… we both like see who can create the tastiest hommous… we believe that our recipe is pretty refined (but is quite freehand as you will see)
i’m going to dispute serenas claim there is no need for oil. a teaspoon to a tablespoon all you need. we use a good olive oil to add flavour and help the consistency/binding.
we add the oil, chickpeas, tahini (lots) and a cup(ish) of warm water and put in the processor. warm water is the key as it adds more creaminess (warm is better than cold for creaminess for some reason).
we then add salt, lemon juice, garlic and more tahini/water to taste… blasting it each time. once you have the base from the first step you can just adjust it.
we are big garlic fans so are not afraid to make really garlicy hommous… but its really up to you (and your audience). we have also had success with adding hot peppers and cayenne pepper to the mix… i added some kalamate olives once and really like the combination of garlic and olive flavour. id agree with dave that roasted garlic would be awesome and change the dymanics of the flavour too.
Link | December 17th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
lambert wrote,
I’m no hommous buff, but stephanie alexander’s cookbook gives the following ingredients a go (and she tends to be a pretty useful guide..)
250g chickpeas
salt
pepper
2 teaspoons cumin
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup lemon juice
pinch cayenne pepper
parsley
1/4 cup olive oil
Link | December 29th, 2008 at 11:09 am
lambert wrote,
just read another recipe which had 2 tablespoons of bicarb of soda??
Link | December 29th, 2008 at 11:15 am