Hummus

Hummus

Hummus is a Middle Eastern and Arabic food. It can be used as a dip or as spread, whichever way you like. ‘Hummus’ is basically an Arabic word, which means chickpeas in English, ‘Channa’ (चना) in Hindi. Hummus is high in Iron, Vitamin C and Protein.

Ingredients

§  Chickpeas (चना)   – 500 gms (Boiled)

§  Tahini                – ¼ cup (approximately 60 ml) or ½ cup (Refer Tip *)

§  Lemon Juice        – ¼ cup (approximately 8 to 10 tbsp)

§  Garlic cloves       – 2 medium size

§  Salt to taste        – approximately ½ tsp

§  Black pepper       – ¼ tsp

§  Water                – 3 to 4 tbsp

§  Red chili powder – pinch of it for garnishing

§  Extra virgin olive oil – 2 tbsp for garnishing

Method

1.    Mince garlic thoroughly till you see it releasing its oil. This helps garlic to release its subtle flavor in Hummus, while it’s being processed into the processor. Keep the minced garlic aside.

2.    Into a clean and dry food processor, pour in Tahini and lemon juice. Process it for a minute. (Refer Tip **)

3.    Now add the minced garlic, black pepper powder, salt and chickpeas. Pulse the ingredients for a minute. Scrape the sides and the bottom of the container, to bring in all the ingredients together.

4.    At this stage the mixture will be quite coarse and very thick.

5.    Start the processor again and pour in water gradually. You can increase or decrease the amount of water depending upon the consistency you need. (Refer Tip ***)

6.    Keep processing it, till you achieve a nice whipped creamy consistency.

7.    Transfer the thick hummus onto a plate. Spread it a bit and garnish it with olive oil and red chili powder. If you want to add extra color to it, garnish it with some fresh parsley leaves too!! 

Serving

Serve with hot pita bread or whichever bread you like, with salads, rolls or anything with which you would love to have it with J. You can use it as a dip too.

Tip

*     Balance of ingredients is necessary to reach the perfect creamy consistency. You can increase the amount of Tahini to half a cup, if you like your spreads with more fat content to get even more dense results.

**   Mixing Tahini and lemon juice as a first step, gives the extra creamy texture to Hummus.

*** I have not used olive oil while processing hummus, but have used water instead. Initially I used to think that processing it with olive oil will give it more texture and creaminess but when I made it without it, it came to my surprise that the oil it had no effect on the texture and it didn't do anything for the consistency either. Instead, water helped the ingredients to release its flavors more and also helped in easy blending and reaching the desired creamy whippy.... consistency.

Try this recipe and share your comments and/or suggestions.

Gattey Ki Sabzi (गट्टे की सब्ज़ी)

Gattey ki Sabzi

Ingredients

For Gattey

§  Gram Flour (Besan) – ¾ cup

§  Malai                  – 3 tsp (Refer Tip *)

§  Salt

§  Water

§  Turmeric            – pinch of it

§  Green chilli          – 1 chopped finely

§  Kasuri Methi        – ½ tsp

§  Carrom seeds (Ajwain) – ¼ tsp

§  Corriander powder (Dhaniya) – ½ tps

For Gravy

§  Curd        – ½ cup

§  Onion       – 1 medium size

§  Tomato    – 1 medium size

§  Ginger      – 1tsp juliennes

§  Garlic       – 5-6 pods finely chopped

§  Oil           – 4 tbsp

§  Turmeric   – ½ tsp

§  Hing / Asafoetida           – ¼ tsp

§  Corriander powder         – 1 tsp

§  Garam masal powder     – 1 tsp

§  Salt

§  Water

§  Carrom seeds (Ajwain)   – ¼ tsp

§  Cumin seeds (Jeera)      – ¼ tsp

§  Coriander leaves           – 2 tsp (chopped)

Method

1.    Firstly prepare Gattey.

a.    In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients except water and malai.

b.    Now add malai in the besan mixture and rub gently between your fingers till you get a bread crumb consistency.

c.    Now keep sprinkling water and knead to form into a firm and smooth dough. Divide into equal balls and roll then to cylindrical shapes of ½” or 1” diameter roll.

d.    Take a wide large vessel and fill with water. Enough to immerse the Gattey rolls when boiled. Once the water starts to boil, put the rolls into the water and let them cook for about 10 minutes at high flame.

e.    Once done, remove the Gattey rolls and let it cool down.

f.     Now slice the gattey rolls into 1/2” wide pieces. You can vary the thickness as you like.

2.    For the gravy,

a.    grind the onion and tomato to thick paste. Keep aside.

b.    In a Wok, heat oil over medium heat. When hot, add Ajwain, Jeera

c.    Now add the ginger juliennes and chopped garlic. Stir for a second or two and add the onion-tomato paste

d.    Add turmeric, dhaniya powder, garam masala powder, Asafoetida. Fry the mixture till it releases oil a bit.

e.    Now add curd and reduce the flame to low. Stir occasionally till the mixture releases oil. (Refer Tip **)

f.     Now add salt and gattey pieces. Stir in well. (Refer Tip ***)

g.    Now add water and increase the heat to medium high. Let the mixture come to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. The gravy becomes thick and creamy.

h.    Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serving

Serve hot with rotis and rice.

Tip

*     If you don’t have malai, substitute it with 4 tsp of oil.

**   Always add curd on a low heat else it will curdle and you will not get the smooth consistency of the gravy as desired.

*** Once the curd mixture is cooked thoroughly then add salt, else this will also curdle the curd.

Try this recipe and share your comments and/or suggestions.