Hummus

If any introductions are needed, hummus is a popular Middle Eastern dip or spread made out of chickpeas flavoured with tahini (toasted sesame paste) and lemon juice. There are also versions of hummus with garlic, tomatoes, paprika, etc. But I just love the taste of this simple one! It's such a healthy snack as well, rich with iron, vitamin C, a perfect source of protein and dietary fiber. It can be served as a starter with flat breads, such as pita, veggies or along with falafel.

You will need (4 servings): 150 g chickpeas, soaked in water overnight 1 onion, quartered a few coriander sprigs juice of half lime/lemon 1-2 tbsp of tahini paste* salt to taste olive oil 1. Drain the chickpeas, put them into a pot, add enough water just to cover them, add the onion, corriander sprigs, some salt and a few drops of olive oil. Boil them for at least 40 minutes or until they are soft. 2. Remove the onion and coriander, drain the chickpeas, but keep the stock. 3. Put the chickpeas into a blender/food processor, add a few spoons of the stock and blend it till you get a smooth paste. If needed, keep adding a few spoons of the stock until you get the right consistency. 4. Finally, mix in the lime/lemon juice, tahini paste and salt to taste. I recommend starting with less lime juice and tahini and if needed, add more later after tasting. Just before serving, drizzle with olive oil. Also, you can top it with fresh coriander or paprika powder, or some cooked chickpeas... Serve with pita bread or vegetables.

*Tahini - sesame seed paste. If you don't have it, simply lightly dry roast some sesame seeds in a pan and blend them in a food processor/blender adding a little bit of olive oil, just enough to get a smooth paste. Put it in an airtight container and keep it in the fridge. It will be handy when making Baba Ghanoush as well :o)

Pork Chop - Eggplant Stir-Fry with Ginger Fried Rice

My hubby made a delicious stir-fry for dinner as I was craving for a little bit of TLC last night. He used pork chops, but you can make it with any kind of cut of pork. And if you don't get Japanese eggplant, you can use some other kind of small eggplant. The sauce was quite sweet with a fresh touch of star anise and green shallots. We had it over simple ginger fried rice that is so easy to make yet adds so much flavour. It reminded me a lot of Korean bbq, which we used to go for on Friday nights while living in Minneapolis. Good old days... =)

For Pork Chop Stir-Fry you will need: 4 pork chops marinated in: a handful of chopped green shallots/spring onions 2 tbsp of soy sauce 2 tsp of fish sauce (can be replaced with salt) 1 star anise, broken into big pieces black pepper powder 4-5 Japanese eggplants, cut in half and then lengthwise 3 small red onions, quartered 3 shallots (white part), halved 4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced ~3 cm piece of ginger, thinly sliced ~2 tbsp of Hoisin sauce some chopped spring onions for garnishing oil for frying 1. Marinate the pork chops in soy sauce, chopped spring onions, star anise, pepper powder and fish sauce for about 30 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, prepare the rest of the ingredients. 3. In a wok, heat some oil and stir fry the eggplants until slightly brown. Add garlic, onion, shallots, ginger and fry some more until onion is slightly browned. Onion should still be crisp. Keep aside. 4. Heat some oil, place the pork chops into a wok and fry till outside is seared. Then pour in the marinade and fry until the meat is cooked. 5. Add back the stir fried vegetables, hoisin sauce and fish sauce to taste. Mix it well. 5. Garnish with fresh spring onion.

For Ginger Fried Rice you will need: 2 cups of cooked rice ~3 cm of ginger, finely chopped 2 tsp of soy sauce fish sauce or salt to taste a handful or green shallots/spring onions, chopped oil of frying In a wok or pan, heat some oil and fry ginger for a minute. Then add the cooked rice and stir it well and fry it for a couple of minutes. Stir in soy sauce and fish sauce to taste. Finally, add fresh spring onions. Stir it well and fry till the rice is nicely browned. Enjoy!

Spicy Potato Wedges

Something very simple today. We had these potatoes in the fridge that needed to be used, so I baked spicy homemade potato wedges. It can be a side dish or a snack with, for example, cold Kingfisher beer :o)

Needed:

any kind/size potatoes
salt, pepper, fuego mix* or any seasoning of your liking
olive oil

Wash the potatoes, no need to peel them, and cut them evenly into mid size pieces. The potatoes I used where on the small size, so I just quartered them. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, fuego mix, and a couple of spoons of olive oil. Mix potatoes well so they get completely coated with spices and oil.


Preheat oven to 200C, spread the wedges in a baking dish and bake it for ~20 minutes. After that, turn the wedges over and put back into the oven for anoter 10-20 minutes or until the wedges are soft when poked with a fork. The baking time will depend on the size and kind of potatoes used. Serve it with a dip, ketchup, or on the side of a main dish.

Other seasoning variations: dried herbs (or oregano by itself), cajun spice mix, paprika, garlic salt, or just plain salt&pepper...

We had a homemade variation of fuego mix from when we made Carnitas. There were few ingridients we could not get and we substituted cayenne with just chili powder.

*Fuego mix (1 cup)
1/4 cup paprika
2 teaspoons cayenne
2 tablespoons salt
2 tbsp white pepper
2 tbsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp garlic granules
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp oregano

Curried Masoor Lentils

Lentils are great for a side dish. They are low in fat and high in protein and fiber. A wide variety of split lentils, called dal (or daal, or dhal) are available in the markets in India. There was always some dal cooked at home and I had it with every homemade meal there.

This dish is really tasty and doesn't take much work to make it. I used French green whole lentils for it. These lentils take longer to cook, but they hold their shape and are very delicate.

For 2-3 servings, you will need*:
~3 handfuls of French green lentils (or whole masoor)
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 onion
1 tomato
1/4 tsp turmeric (ciberzole) powder
coriander (kalendra) for garnish
salt
oil/ghee

Wash and then soak lentils for at least couple of hours. Put them into a pot, add enough water to cover the lentils and about half index finger on the top. You can add more water later if it all evaporates away before lentils are done.

Bring it to a boil. Add some salt and the turmeric powder, stir it and let it cook over a medium flame for about an hour or until lentils become soft. Stir it every 15 minutes. Meanwhile, chop the onion, garlic, ginger and tomato.

When lentils become soft, heat some oil/ghee and fry the garlic and ginger for couple minutes. Next, add the onions and fry them till they are translucent. Lastly, add the tomatoes, garam masala and chili powder, mix well and fry till aromatic.

Stir it all into the cooked lentils, cook it for about 5 more minutes, garnish with coriander leaves and serve it hot!

* Source: http://www.parchayi.net/recipes.php?content=7