Super easy home made hummus

If I had to pick my favorite spread/dip, hummus would definitely win – even before any kind of chocolate spread. Hummus is just so versatile – you can spread in on fresh bread, dipp all kinds of veggies in it, use it in wraps and sandwiches… Or you can eat it right from the container, which I may have done a few times. You can get pretty good hummus at your local deli or supermarket, but I often find the store-bought kind lacking in flavor. Also, if you read through the ingredients label, you can see that many producers add all kinds of food additives such as thickeners or preservatives. If you want to avoid this stuff and make sure that the hummus tastes even more delicious, you can simply make from scratch. And don’t worry, it’s really easy to make!

I usually boil the chickpeas myself and don’t use canned ones, so my recipe starts with boiling the chickpeas. Boiling chickpeas often takes at least two hours, but you can shorten this time significantly by doing two thing: soaking the chickpeas for at least 12 hours before boiling and adding a pinch of baking soda to the water when you boil them. This will make the water slightly alkaline, which speeds up the cooking process. This way you will even save energy! If you are in a hurry and want to use canned chickpeas, go ahead – you will need about 400 g. 

Sushi course part 3: Blanched spinach salad with sesame dressing

And here we go again with my little sushi course! This time though, I’m not going to show you another way for making sushi rolls, but a tasty side dish. At first sight this salad might seem a little blant since it’s basically just spinach with a sesame-soy dressing, but the tahini really makes this a special treat! You can use fresh or frozen spinach for this – I personally prefer to use fresh spinach, though since you will blanche it anyway, the frozen one won’t make such a big difference. Just make sure the leaves aren’t chopped to finely, or you will have a hard time trying to eat this with chopsticks!

Savoury chickpea muffins with harissa

I’ve decided to take a little break from my sushi course (though I promise to continue it!) in favour of some home-baking. Savoury muffings (like these cornbread muffins with walnuts and sage I’ve posted before) are one of my favourites treats from the oven – they are easy and fast to make, perfect for a packed lunch and keep well in the freezer, so don’t be afraid of making a big batch ahead. These chickpea muffins where inspired by me stumbling upon a glas of harissa in the pantry and thinking about what to use it for. And since I had just run out of savoury muffins… I use dried chickpeas for this recipe, though if you want to save some time you can use canned ones instead – just remember they’re way more expensive!