Balsamic vinegar caramelised onion hummus

I confess that I am a big fan of Buzzfeed, and when I was sent this list of hummus recipes, my interest was immediately piqued.

This recipe was there. It is from a Canadian blog called Once upon a cutting board.

It is delicious. Try it ;-)

Balsamic vinegar and carmelised onion hummus

You will need:

2 onions, sliced into slivers

About 1 tablespoon of olive oil

One teaspoon of brown sugar

Two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, or to your taste

Your basic hummus recipe probably looks something like this:

1 can chickpeas

3 tablespoons reserved liquid from the can of chickpeas

3 tablespoons tahini (I regularly don’t have this, I use a slug of olive oil instead)

2-3 garlic cloves (you can use raw if you have them. I use a couple of ones I roasted a while ago and keep in a jar of olive oil in the fridge)

the juice of half a lemon

salt and pepper to taste

Get a heavy frying pan and heat the olive oil and then fry the onions for about 20-25 minutes over a low heat. You should stir them every few minutes to stop them from sticking to the pan and to get them all evenly cooked. They should be very soft, but not burnt. Add in the sugar and some of the vinegar and cook these off for another five minutes or so.

While the onions are cooking, you can put all the hummus ingredients in a food processor (maybe just hold back some of the liquids until you see the consistency of the hummus). Blitz the lot for a minute, scrape everything off the sides if you need to, check the consistency and add the reserved can liquid or lemon juice if you want a looser mixture. Blitz the whole lot again until you get the consistency you want – I like it smooth, so for me, this takes about another two minutes of blitzing.

Put about ¾ of the carmelised onions into the food processor with the hummus and blitz this for a minute. Taste the whole lot together and check it for seasoning – don’t forget that you can add more balsamic vinegar for flavouring too. When you are happy with the taste, scoop it out into a bowl and dress it with the reserved onions.

We eat this with brown bread, pita bread, carrots, cucumbers…

ps: I'm going to try this jalepeno one as soon as I find jalepenos. If you know where I can buy fresh ones, can you let me know? 

Quinoa and chicken yummy simpleness

I admit that have been very busy over the past few weeks and as a result, have been falling back on tried n tested recipes, many of which are already in this blog. However, I tried these two for dinner during the week. They are both from Domini Kemp in the Irish Times from over the summer and were simple, tasty and fast, which is exactly what you need when you’re short on time and everything else. I’m loving Domini’s recipes the more and more I try them as they are always good and most importantly, they work every time. Thanks Domini!

Quinoa and spiced chicken, from Domini Kemp

Quinoa salad 

Serves 4

200g quinoa

Few tbsp olive oil

Black sesame seeds or nigella seeds

Bunch coriander, finely chopped

Salt and pepper

2 preserved lemons, finely chopped or juice and zest of 1-2 lemons

Cook the quinoa in boiling water according to the pack instructions and then drain it and rinse until cold. Let it drain really well, otherwise it tastes too soggy. Simply toss with the rest of the ingredients and season to taste.

Lemon spiced chicken with chickpeas 

Good glug of olive oil

1 onion, peeled and diced

4 skinless chicken breasts, diced into bite-sized chunks

Salt and pepper

½ a cinnamon stick (approx 8cm)

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

Zest and juice of 2 lemons

2 tins chickpeas (approximately 400g) drained and rinsed

350ml chicken stock

1 x 250g bag baby spinach

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan with a lid and saute the onion until it is soft. Add the chicken, turn up the heat and season it well. When you’re starting to get good colour on the chicken, add the spices and continue to cook and get even more colour on the chicken. After another few minutes, add the lemon juice and zest. Then add the chickpeas and stock. Mix well, put the lid on and simmer very gently for about 12-15 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning then add the spinach just before serving and let it wilt.

You can add water or stock if you would like it to be a bit more soupy or stew-like. Likewise you can simmer it without a lid if you prefer something dryer. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick before serving.

Bean and chicken casserole

This warming casserole is adapted from a Domini Kemp recipe. Her’s is vegetarian, mine is not.

Bean and chicken casserole

Once everything was in the pot, I left it simmering for about an hour, but that was just because I was doing other things and wasn’t in a rush to get to the table. You will happily feed four people with this.

a tablespoon of olive oil

one red onion

as much garlic as you like

a good knob of ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

some chilli, again, what you like and how hot you want your dinner

2 chicken breasts

a tin of tomatoes

a couple of stock cubes

1 tin cannellini beans (I found these in the cupboard, possibly bought in the GB at Merode. Use whatever you can find in the local shop)

1 tin chick peas

a persevered lemon

coriander and spring onions

I served this with some cous cous mixed with coriander and spring onions, and Greek yogurt.

I just discovered I left out a couple of the ingredients, such as the curry powder and the orange stated in the original recipe. A lesson in re-reading through the recipe at the end if ever I heard one! Nonetheless, it was really good.

Heat a little oil in a pot and sweat the chopped onions. I grated the ginger and crushed the garlic and added both to the onions for a few minutes to cook for another couple of minutes. Add the spices and cook all of this for about five minutes, making sure it doesn’t burn.

Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces and toss it into the onion spice mixture to colour the outside. Pour in a tin of tomatoes and about half a tin of water. I added the chopped up preserved lemon at this stage and the stock cubes together with a little salt and pepper.

Rinse all the beans under cold water, drain and set aside. Leave the tomato mixture to cook and simmer gently for as long as you have (make sure the chicken is cooked through so at least 20 minutes. I left it bubbling gently for about an hour), before adding the beans. Cook for about 10 minutes and check the seasoning. You can sharpen up the flavours with some lemon juice and Tabasco sauce.