Sunday, April 18, 2010

Hummus and garlic dip.

So I decided to do hummus for tea yesterday, I didn't do the garlic dip so have no shots of it, but if you want a really nice snack or salad, try out the hummus.
It freezes well and scales up really well for a party, so you can make it in bulk.
It's also great with olives to dip in it, toast some pitta, chop some raw veg...lots of things you can dip in it and have with it.

Hummus
2 cloves garlic
1 can Chickpeas
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsps Olive oil
6 tbsps Tahinii
Salt and pepper
Chopped Fresh parsley or Coriander for garnish.


Ok you need to open the peas and seperate the liquid and the peas and reserve the liquid for use. Put the peas and some of the reserved liquid with the lemon juice in a blender and blend until you have a consistency you like, this should be somewhere between whipped cream and cement ( it should not be runny but nice and chunky and thick. Once you have blended that then add most of the olive oil and the tahinii and blend further. Once all the ingredients have been blended together then you need to season with salt and pepper then stand in the fridge for at least an hour or two if not overnight to allow the flavours to mingle and to chill it. Garnish with Parsley and drizzle the rest of the olive oil over the top ( cos I think coriander tastes like fairy liquid ) Serve with pittas or French bread.

You can optionally blitz some chili powder, flakes or even fresh chilis into this and it's nice too. To keep well just cover it in a layer of olive oil and in a jar and it lasts for a few weeks in the fridge without freezing.







This garlic dip is a whopper, if you're doing anything sociable in the next two days after it, reconsider, it's only really good to have on a Friday, ensure that if the garlic has the green stalks in it that you do your best to remove them as they cause the worst problems with digestion. You can have it with more or less the same things as you'd dip into the hummus, very tasty stuff and both are vegan.

Garlic Dip
2 bulbs garlic
2 tbsps Lemon juice
1 small onion
Fresh parsley a handful
3 tbsps tahinii
6 Tbsps Olive oil
salt
pepper

Roast the two bulbs of garlic at 180c for 8-10 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool. Once the garlic has cooled then pop it out of its skins and chop it finely. Chop the small onion finely then add it to a medium shallow pan with the olive oil and the chopped garlic and fry until the onion is sweated down and soft. Remove the garlic and onion from the heat then add lemon juice, tahinii and a handful of Chopped fresh parsley and season with salt and pepper. Serve with pittas or french bread.






I got this really good Italian olive oil off of a friend quite cheaply, he imported a load of it at one point and then got ill so was unable to sell it as was his intention and got stuck with a load of it, and unfortunately it went past its best before, but it's still absolutely fantastic tasty single estate extra virgin organic olive oil. It actually comes from olive trees he planted himself years ago when he farmed in Italy, he's been back in Ireland a few years now, but the farm is still in the hands of acquaintances of his.
If anyone is interested I'm sure he'd be happy to get rid of some of it cheaply cos it's not going to last forever so let me know and I'll put you in contact with him or organise something for you myself.

12 comments:

  1. Sounds really tasty. I love home made hummus but I find it hard to find tahini. The garlic dip sounds fiery alright! I must try it out.

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  2. I'm told by a lot of people that the hummus is very similar to the good one in tesco, and I used to eat that one a lot before I got this recipe.
    Watch out for tahinii is lidl they do it when they do their greek week.

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  3. Nice, must give it a whirl. With chillies.

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  4. I've been threatening to make my own Hummus for a couple of weeks now, ever since I picked up tahinii in an Asian shop on Moore Street. Your recipe looks like the one to go for. I like Tesco Hummus.

    How can you be so wrong about the wonderful herb that is coriander? It is an essential ingredient in Indian and Mexican food. Delicious and not at all soapy in flavour.

    I make a quick and easy garlic dip by adding chopped garlic and chive to natural yoghurt, with a bit if lemon juice and salt. Works really well.

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  5. Yeah I have to admit the coriander thing bothers me on a few levels as it basically prohibits me from experiencing a few different cuisines as they are intended, and it has on a few occasions ruined meals for me which I was really looking forward to.
    I can't help it.

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  6. You should put up your tzatziki recipe at some point, Eoin.

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  7. Tahinii is seame seed paste, it's common enough to get in an arab or greek market. It's a bit like a mix between putty and a very very dry smooth peanut butter. When it settles out it's very very like putty, it seperates into an oil and a solids layer.

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  8. Your Tesco must have better hummus than ours. I've given up on trying theirs, all varieties are too watery and there's not enough Tahini in them. I found one in Sainsbury's that's acceptable. Your recipe sounds just perfect, shall give it a try at some point. Frank likes the sound of the garlic dip. :)

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  9. Well the tesco here used to have a fantastic hummus, I've not bought it in a long time. I remember the guy in Iskanders kebab shop in town saying how good the tesco one was, I thought the same at the time.

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  10. Just looking up at my comment to Aidan, of course I meant sesame seed paste, not seame.

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  11. Must see what my wife uses as she makes hummus all the time and its lovely stuff.
    I even like Tahini on its own and have massive jars of it.

    You can get it in any asian supermarket usually.

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