Warm Cheese Dip

The magical combination of cheese and chilli in a dip.

This is one of those fab dips that you can make ahead of time and just pop it into the oven to warm up again. It freezes well and if you want to make it a bit more substantial add some cooked chopped meat, this one has some cooked chicken stirred through. Pulled pork, chorizo and slow cooked beef work well too.

Ingredients

50g butter

1 large onion, finely diced

4 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tablespoons smoked paprika

1 teaspoon chipotle chilli powder

1 tablespoon dried oregano

3 tablespoons gluten free plain flour

375mls milk

1x400g tin crushed tomatoes

200-300g cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper

Method

In a large pan, melt the butter, add the onion, cook until soft. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add the flour, smoked paprika, chipotle chilli and oregano to the pan and stir over medium heat for 1 minute.

Add the milk and tinned tomatoes and stir constantly until thickened.

Turn off the heat, add most of the grated cheese and stir until the cheese has melted.

Serve now or pour into oven proof dish, top with the remaining cheese and bake in a 200 degree oven until the cheese has melted and is golden.

Spicy Hummus

I love hummus as a dip and this recipe is no exception. I top it with my own home made dukkah, the recipe is on the blog. Leftovers are great as a spread in wraps with lots of crunchy salad.

Ingredients

400g tin chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved

1 garlic clove

juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon tahini

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder

olive oil

salt and pepper

2 tablespoon dukkah

Method

Measure the reserved liquid from the chickpeas and add olive oil to it to make a volume of 160mls.

Pour this liquid into a food processor followed by the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, tahini, cumin, coriander, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Wizz to form a thick paste.

Spoon into your serving dish, drizzle over some more oil and then sprinkle over the dukkah.

Chickpea And Carrot Hummus

Hummus is very popular in our house, great to nibble on as a dip, spread in sandwiches or boxed up for school lunches.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

250g dried chickpeas, around 575g cooked

2 garlic cloves

juice of 3 lemons

4 tablespoons tahini

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

2 carrots, peeled and grated

250mls olive oil

salt and pepper

Method

Soak the chickpeas overnight, drain and pour into a large pan, add three times the quantity of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for one hour until cooked, it may take a little longer depending on your chickpeas.

Drain the chickpeas and allow to cool completely.

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and process to a smooth paste.

Pistachio And Coriander Dip

This dip might not have the wow factor in appearance but it’s an absolute knockout! I like to serve it along side some hummus with bread and carrot sticks for dipping.

Serves 6. Leftovers are great in salad of spread in wraps for a hit of flavour.

Ingredients

80g pistachio kernals

1 large garlic clove, roughly chopped

50g fresh coriander, leaves and stalks

50g feta

125mls Greek yogurt

Method

Process the nuts and garlic until roughly chopped.

Add the remaining ingredients and process again.

Try not to over process as it’s nice to see the green in the white rather than just a green dip!

Chickpea Hummus

Gosh I love this!

I quite happily have this for breakfast, lunch or dinner! The boys love a tub of this with crackers for school and I have been known to add a couple of spoonfuls to wraps and sandwiches to give them a little kick.

I do like to use dried chickpeas for this, infact, I always cook more than I need as they are so handy for throwing into salads and curries!

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients

220g dried chickpeas, gives around 515g cooked chickpeas

2 tablespoons tahini

3 cloves garlic, crushed

4 lemons, juiced

175mls olive oil

salt to season

a little extra olive oil and paprika to serve

Method

Soak the chickpeas over night in a large bowl of water.

Drain the chickpeas and pour them into a large pan, top up with triple the quantity of water.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 hour, they may take a little longer.

Drain the chickpeas and allow to cool.

Process all of the ingredients, check for seasoning.

Spoon into a serving dish, use the back of a spoon to make a swirl pattern.

Gently drizzle a little olive oil over the hummus and a couple of pinches of paprika.