Tag Archives: Hummus

Warm Fava Hummus with Caramelised Pistachio Butter

DSC_1

Eating beans certainly doesn’t have to be all about calorie counting as this warm fava bean purée swirled with rich, nutty butter demonstrates. I cooked up the recipe at a recent workshop in London for The Guild of Food Writers and promised to post it.

British beans and peas are enjoying quite a renaissance at the moment thanks to Nick Saltmarsh and the rest of the team at Hodmedods. The fact is that we export vast quantities, thousands of tons in fact, of fava beans (dried broad beans) every year and they taste bloody good, are fantastically nutritious and really economical too. It seems rather fortuitous that we’re developing a taste for cheap, homegrown beans right at this moment, with the pound plunging ever downwards and us setting our country adrift into God knows where, we may well be needing some economical sustenance in the near future (that will be my first and last Brexit comment here otherwise I might just get into a rant).

The dish was inspired by a recipe in the new United Nations FAO cook book, Pulses: Nutritious Seeds for a Sustainable Future (the book can be downloaded here). Turkish chef Didem Senol gives a recipe for warm hummus (made with chickpeas as you would expect) and a hot spicy butter. Here’s a copy of the recipe….

DSC_2

My version used some split fava beans that cook up to a deliciously soft purée in about half an hour with no need for soaking at all. These split beans are great to add to curries and stews to thicken up the sauce (good for the gluten intolerant and also great for those like me who enjoy the creamy texture), they also make the most fabulous falafel. I liked the idea of the melted butter on top as, hoorah, we’re able to ladle on the fat again nowadays without an ounce of guilt (I feel so sorry for those who’ve been suffering margarine or low-fat spread for decades only to discover that it was all a waste of time). So, I was up for the melted butter but thought I’d really pull out all the stops by caramelising it too. If you’ve never tried this before you’ll be amazed; “beurre noisette” is heaven with fish (just add a few capers and a bit of parsley) and even better with pasta (add some sage leaves to crisp up as the butter browns).

Warm Fava Hummus with Caramelised Pistachio Butter

Makes 2 large bowls – ideal for sandwiches, salads, dipping and whatever else you usually do with hummus. The butter only really works with warm hummus, you could always zap it in the microwave just before serving.

250 g split fava beans
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Juice of 1/2 – 1 lemon
100 ml -ish extra virgin olive oil
Salt to taste

50 g unsalted butter
50 g roughly chopped pistachio nuts
Good pinch of Urfa chilli flakes (or any other sweet, slightly smoked chilli)

For the hummus
Take a small pan, cover the fava beans by a couple of centimetres of cold water and then place over a medium heat. Skim off the froth as the beans come up to the boil and then simmer until they begin to soften and collapse into the cooking liquid. Do add a little extra water if needed but only enough to keep the favas from drying out. The idea is to purée the beans and liquid to make the hummus but if they are very wet you could strain through a sieve.

Whizz up the beans with a blender, out board engine (aka handheld blender) or food processor and mix in the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and salt to taste. You could, of course, serve this minus butter BUT please do give it a go, you may become hooked.

For the butter
Melt the butter in a small saucepan (ideally a steel rather than dark, non-stick pan so that you can watch the colour of the butter changing later).

Turn up the heat until the butter begins to froth and then use your nose; once you begin to get that gorgeous biscuity smell you need to be on your guard. Swirl the pan a little so that you can see what’s going on and once the little flecks of milk solids are turning a foxy red/brown it’s time to quickly tip the butter into a heatproof container to stop it from burning. Too pale and the butter will taste cloying and fatty, too dark and it will taste burnt (just like a sugar caramel).

Stir in the pistachios and  Urfa chilli flakes. Swirl the butter over the warm hummus and serve right away with toasted bread.

Split favas are available in many health food shops, deli’s and good grocers now and also online at Hodmedods

Urfa chilli flakes are available at plenty of good spice shops and delis and I found mine online at Sous Chef

DO listen to The Radio 4 Food Programme on 10th/11th July – it’s all about pulses.
Nick Saltmarsh of Hodmedod, Sanjay Kumar of The Cornish Sardine School and I had a wonderful time recording some of the programme with Sheila Dillon in Bristol last week.

 

Happy New Year …… of Pulses

2016 has been declared The International Year of Pulses by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation; at last I have even more reason to shout about lentils, chickpeas and beans.

This year I plan to write at least one post a month about a different legume amongst all of my other ramblings. Being a champion of pulses doesn’t mean that I’m focused on dieting or totally obsessed with healthy eating (you’ll find a few indulgent dishes and cakes amongst the recipes on my blog) I just write about the ingredients and food that I like to eat.

Luckily the pulses, whole grains, nuts, fruits and vegetables that we regularly tuck into are incredibly good for us, it’s almost like a fortuitous accident. I’d better quickly add that I’m certainly not squeaky clean –  I happen to love pasta, smoked bacon, Stilton cheese and custard tarts amongst many other delights on the “nutrition guru’s” black list. It may sound very simplistic but, in my view, if your diet is predominantly made up of the unprocessed, slow-to-digest bits there simply isn’t room to fit in too much of the naughtier stuff.
Michael Pollan’s “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” pretty much sums it up.

You could call us a “flexitarian” household (just a poncey way of saying that we have plenty of meals that don’t include meat or fish). Husband Peter and 9 year old Imi don’t even seem to notice whether a meal is vegetarian or not, they’re just as happy eating a chickpea pilaff as a lamb stew, it’s about tasty food. This way of eating happens to be cheaper, means we can afford great quality meat when we do buy it and most importantly to me it’s exciting and varied (Oh, and another added bonus, it’s good for us and the planet too)

I did mean to give you a lentil recipe to celebrate New Year – the Italians believe that each little lentil represents a coin bringing prosperity for the year ahead (Yes, please). Here’s a fab’ rhubarb and lentil curry recipe in any case. It’s just not that often that I have a little film up my sleeve………….
So here’s a quick video of how to throw together some very simple dips to set your pulses racing (sorry that had to happen just once)  that I filmed a couple of weeks ago with Rob Wicks of Eat Pictures. You’ll find the recipes below.

Black Bean and Chipotle Dip

Makes 1 medium-sized  bowl
Chipotles are smoked jalapeno peppers, traditionally you buy them dried or in adobo, a spicy sauce made up predominantly of tomato and onion. You could easily substitute the Chipotle paste or ketchup  that is increasingly available in supermarkets too. No Chipotles at all ? A spoonful of smoked Spanish paprika and a few hot chillis will taste great too.

Here’s a Tex-Mex winner to serve alongside Guacamole, tomato salsa and a few corn chips. Crack open an ice cold bottled beer, slide in the wedge of lime and let the fiesta begin.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, finely diced
1 x 400 g tin of black beans or 250 g home cooked beans
2 chipotle chillis in adobo sauce, stalks removed
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp soured cream
Juice of 1 -2  limes
1 tbsp freshly chopped coriander
salt and a few drops of tabasco to taste

Fry the onion in the oil until soft and golden. Now add the garlic to the pan and continue to cook until it smells wonderful.

Put the onion and garlic into a food processor with the beans, the cumin and just half of your Chipotle ( it’s always wise to tread carefully with any chilli). Whizz everything up and add the remaining chilli, soured cream, lime juice and salt by degrees until the dip is balanced.

Stir in most of the coriander, check the seasoning again and up the heat with a dash of Tabasco if you’re feeling fiery.
Serve with a swirl of soured cream and a sprinkling of coriander.

Roasted Pumpkin Hummus

Makes 1 medium-sized  bowl.
This makes a very welcome change from the more familiar hummus bi tahini. You could swap the pumpkin for other roasted vegetables too.

600 g peeled and roughly chopped pumpkin (or butternut squash)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 x 400 g tin or 300 g drained, cooked chick peas
2 cloves garlic, crushed
juice of 1 lemon
125ml extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Toss the pumpkin in the olive oil and roast at 200 c/ 400 f/ Gas mark 6 for about 40 minutes

Place the chickpeas in a food processor with the garlic, lemon juice and roasted pumpkin. Blend for a moment or two before adding most of the olive oil. Now pulse the mixture, adding more oil and a little seasoning until you have a deliciously creamy paste.

Try adding :
a handful of chopped parsley or coriander
a couple of teaspoons of harissa, swirled through the top.

Cannellini and Beetroot dip

Makes 1 medium-sized  bowl
1 x 400 g/14 oz tin of cannellini, haricot or flageolet beans, drained
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
4 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1/2 a lemon
a pinch of salt and pepper

For the beetroot swirl
2 medium sized, cooked beetroots
2 sprigs of fresh dill
1-2 tsps of ground coriander
salt and pepper to taste

Whizz the beans, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and seasoning into a purée in a food processor or with a stick blender and then adjust the seasoning until you are happy. The creamed beans will be subtle but need to be balanced all the same.

Purée the cooked beetroot with the dill and ground coriander. Balance with salt and pepper.

Swirl the beetroot into the bean dip but don’t stir to much, it’s more appetising as a ripple effect.

You’ll find lots more pulse recipes on the official Pulses.Org website  here  and plenty of other inspiration on my blog – just click on the relevant legume in the ingredients list to the right.

AND, JUST ONE MORE THING – on January 6th people will be eating pulses all over the world to raise awareness of their health and sustainability benefits – you can join the social media party here or you may just prefer to sit down quietly with your friends and a big bowl beans.

Happy New Year!

My Chickpea Love Affair and Perfect Hummus

Not all chickpeas are created equal

Chickpeas are perhaps my number one base ingredient, although they’re not often the star player in my favourite curries, salads and soups they add an earthy, nutty creaminess that I just can’t get enough of. There’s also the fantastic chickpea flour or “gram” flour that I use for making farinata and the odd bhaji – it’s ludicrously cheap, easy to use and great for all the gluten-free clan. Then a couple of weeks ago I came across frozen green chickpeas in one of  my favourite shops,  Sweetmart in Bristol.

I turned my “fresh” chickpeas into simple lunch with potatoes, spices and plenty of fresh coriander. I do admit that I got a bit taken in by the lush green peas on the packet- they were more khaki in reality and didn’t look that appetising, also the texture was a bit more mealy than I was expecting. All in all,  I have to be honest, I was rather disappointed – it seems to me that the chickpea, like so many things in life, benefits from a bit of ageing.

So, back to the dried chickpea (and it becomes more and more apparent that you really do get what you pay for – a can of supermarket chickpeas will be fine, but never sublime). The Spanish are serious legume lovers and have all sorts of different chickpea varieties on offer, whereas most of us Brit’s mistakenly think a chickpea is just a chickpea. I’d never seen a growing chickpea before spending some time in the beautiful Sierra de Francia, near Salamanca in Spain. The locals harvested their own crop and then had them drying out on mats in the street. I’ve thrown in a few gratuitous pic’s from Miranda del Castañar and the surrounding villages -it’s such a glorious part of Spain. You’re in Ibérico ham, cherry and legume land.

The caviar of chickpeas is , as far as I’m concerned,, the humungous blanco lechoso (the “milky white”) which has a fabulous sweet flavour and velvety texture. This is the perfect chickpea for making hummus – there must be equally delicious  Middle Eastern equivalents available out there  but I’ve yet to find them. Tinned chickpeas always seem to give a grainy textured hummus whereas these are silky smooth once puréed. My chickpeas are from a Spanish producer called Burcol and I tracked them down in the fabulous Papadeli in Bristol

I  doubt that you’ll be needing a hummus recipe but just in case here’s one from my book Pulse.

Perfect Hummus - Jenny Chandler

 

Hummus Bi Tahini

300 g/10 oz home- cooked chick peas or 1 x 400 g/ 14 oz tin of well rinsed chick peas
juice of 2 lemons
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
4-6 tbsp tahini paste
salt and black pepper or cayenne pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Place most of the chick peas (keeping a few aside for the traditional garnish) in a food processor with the lemon juice and garlic. Give the tahini a good stir and then add 4 tbsp along with 2 tbsp of water (preferably the cooking water if they are home cooked),

Blend until the mixture is really smooth and then add more water to thin it down if necessary. Season. You will need some salt, you can zip the dish up with cayenne or just use black pepper; to enrich the purée , add more tahini; or lift the purée with more lemon juice.

Serve in a wide bowl. Swirl extra virgin olive oil over the surface of the hummus. Sprinkle over the reserved chickpeas.

Try garnishing with:
Pomegranate seeds and coriander
Toasted pine kernels and long, slow-cooked caramelised onions

As always I’ve cooked up a large pot and plan to use the rest of the chickpeas in a salad tomorrow with left over roast chicken, roast pumpkin, rosemary, salad leaves and plenty of parmesan. The rest of the pot will probably be made into soup – I’ll give you the recipe v. soon, it’s sooo quick…. chicken stock from the carcass, lots of garlic, mint and chilli peppers and chickpeas of course.

AND For those of you in The West Country…. ……….It’s only a couple of weeks until the 2nd Bristol Food Connections festival – take a look at what’s on

1428593255086 On May 2nd Lou Marchionne and I will be giving a Pulse demo at the Better Food Company  as part of the Bristol Food Connections Festival. It’s all about how to enjoy plenty of legumes in your diet, the health benefits and the tasty factor too. It’s a freebie – do come along – you can book tickets here

I’ll also be joining a panel of illustrious writers, earlier in the day at
The Business of Pleasure – Stem Rooms, At-Bristol, Anchor Road, Harbourside, Bristol
12.30 – 1.30: How to be a food writer/blogger: making your way in these parlous days of publishing, and how to diversify to best use your skills. With Xanthe Clay, Fiona Beckett, Claire Thomson, Sarah Lavelle, Jenny Chandler and Martin Booth. You can book here