Our next Staple Food Challenge competitor is Sara Benaissa! She’s agreed to share her fabulous recipe for Spicy Avocado Organic Hummus as part of our Staple Food Challenge that gives our customers, aspiring chefs and influential food writers across the country the chance to guest blog on dev.bouncebackfood.co.uk and cook a recipe of their choice. The only condition? Their recipe has to include one of Bounceback Food’s staple products that we sell on a ‘one for you, one for society’ basis in support of FareShare UK.
Over the next few weeks, Sara will also be sharing her thoughts on corporate social responsibility, food waste/food poverty and the organic food market…watch this space!
Here’s Sara’s recipe for Spicy Avocado Organic Hummus.
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Introduction:
As a guest blogger for Bounceback Food I thought it would be a good idea to start with the core of what Bounceback Food is all about; healthy and accessible food for everyone. That in mind I decided to create a recipe that would introduce me to this blog and would show how you can organic products from Bounceback Food to create healthy and sustainable meals for yourself while giving something back to society.
I am a huge believer in avoiding food waste as much as possible and what better way to stop delicious food ending up in the bin than to create recipes that are multi-purpose and can be easily conserved. The 400g organic chickpea tin immediately sprang out at me because of my unbridled and unashamed love for hummus.
If I am being honest, I have never made hummus myself; I either rely on my culinary dad or buy it in over-priced shop bought tubs. Home-made food is a common occurrence in our house hold, the first time I ever used a microwave was when I went to university, I still remember pressing the buttons with the same apprehension as a person first learning to drive! I think this is why I have never really bought into ready-meals and have always preferred natural ingredients and the satisfaction of cooking home-made food for myself.
I am of Algerian-English heritage and so it seemed only right keep the traditional base of hummus and add some North-African inspiration in the form of a fiery home-made green chilli harissa (recipe below) and coriander. I am from Manchester, a city that never fails to innovate, so to give my hummus dish a bit of a Manchester twist I am adding cooling mint and avocado (my other great love). It turned out to be surprisingly delicious…
Ingredients (Spicy Avocado Hummus):
2-3 table spoons of tahini paste
1 ½ lemons
1 x handful of chopped coriander
1 x 400g tin of Organic Chickpeas from Bounceback Food (they make a like for like donation to your nearest food bank!)
1-2 cloves of garlic
½ tea spoon of Algerian dip (harissa/ any other spicy sauce is also an option)
For added flavour –
1 x handful of chopped fresh mint
1 x avocado
1 x pinch of salt and pepper
1 x table spoon of extra virgin olive oil
Ingredients (Green Chilli Harissa):
6 x green chillies (available in all Indian grocery shops)
1 x green pepper
1 x pinch of salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
Method (Green Chilli Harissa):
Wash the green chillies and take the heads off, then pat them dry with a paper towel, chop the green pepper roughly then put the ingredients with a pinch of salt and pepper in a blender and mix thoroughly. Once they are blended put the ingredients in a medium sized bowl and pour good quality virgin olive oil into the bowl until the peppers and chillies are covered. Leave the bowl open on the side for 1 day, then put a lid on the bowl and pop in the fridge for a week and you have your very own North African spicy dip. I realise a week is quite a lot of time; it does however conserve for a very long time and can be put into almost any dish to give it a lively kick! If for this recipe you don’t have the time to create your own harissa you can of course buy it in most supermarkets.
Method (Spicy Avocado Hummus):
First of all you heat up the chickpeas in a pan, bringing it to the boil; at the same time chop up 2 cloves of garlic, the coriander, mint, home-made harissa (shop bought harissa or spicy sauce would also work well) and avocado and then pop it into a blender with the tahini paste, the boiled chickpeas and seasoning. I would only add the liquid from the boiled chickpeas after the first blend is done and add a healthy tablespoon of good quality olive oil. Once the liquid and olive oil are added and the second blend is completed, taste the mixture and go with your gut instinct on what is missing, it tends to be lemon, herbs or seasoning.
I strongly recommend when you serve hummus to add a healthy lathering of good quality olive oil, it simply isn’t the same without it. I served two different types of hummus for lunch with my family, the first was the classic recipe (just coriander and lemon) where I added the traditional pinch of paprika powder on the top, I then added the avocado and mint to the hummus mixture for my Manchester version and added a sprig of mint for decoration.
Is hummus just a dip?
I love using hummus as a dip, but there are so many other wonderful ways to use hummus! It is just as delicious on sandwiches, a base for a soup, oven bakes, chicken topping and as part of a salad dressing; adding an oriental kick to your ‘go-to’ recipes.
As I mentioned before a top tip for hummus is to lather it in olive oil, not only is it delicious (you haven’t had hummus properly until you have done this) it is also an natural way to conserve your hummus for as long as possible, so you don’t have to throw away all your hard work!
All in all be adventurous and surprise yourself with all the ways hummus can bring joy to your life!
Sara
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