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.

Baked Chickpeas With Zatar, Sumac And Nigella

These are little nuggets of flavour!

We have these as part of a mezze meal and if there are any leftovers I roughly crush them with a fork and spread them on flat breads with a little extra olive oil drizzled over the top.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

250g dried chickpeas

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons sumac

2 tablespoons zatar

2 tablespoons nigella (koolanji) seeds

salt and pepper

Method

Soak the chickpeas overnight in a large bowl of water.

The following day, rinse well and pour into a large pan filled with water, bring to the boil and simmer gently until the chickpeas are cooked, it can take 1-2 hours depending on your peas.

Once cooked, drain and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Centigrade.

Comine all of the ingredients and spread out on a baking sheet, bake for 15-20 minutes until the chickpeas are crispy.