Vegan and Gluten Free
When I was little I used to hate Middle Eastern food. I don’t think I even tried it before I had decided. Falafels and humus were just not for me. The only thing I liked was the greasy deep fried cauliflower, which I would steal from the rest of the table and eat by the bowlful. (Soooo good.)
Luckily times have changed! I think I realised how much I liked this kind of food when I was in Europe, which has amazing Middle Eastern food literally everywhere. You’re so lucky! I’ll never forget the humus plate I had in Munich. Swirled with baba ganoush, beetroot dip, and covered in dolmades, falafels, tabouli and fattoush it was the nicest thing I’ve ever eaten in my whole life. Oh my gosh! Just thinking about it makes me weep.
Fast forward to now and I’m kind of obsessed. Like, I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have some element of za’atar or humus or sumac at least once in the day. I realised it was probably time to give homemade humus a whirl, what with me wanting to have it at every meal.
I used the recipe from Jerusalem as a starting point, but halfway through realised I didn’t have any lemons! Oh no! But then I remembered a recipe in Moosewood Cookbook that had used orange juice instead. I don’t want to brag, but it turned out so amazing! I couldn’t stop eating it. I had it on sweet potato fries (the best kind of fries) but you could do so much with it!
I’m excited to experiment with all the different legumes. I’m also super excited to make homemade falafels now. I might just have to make an official falafel month! Who knows, it could be even more exciting than Dumpling Month.
This week is the first week of uni holidays and I’m so excited. Hopefully I’ll be able to find time to post all the recipes I’ve been promising to make on Instagram for ages! Saying that I can already tell I’m going to spend most of my time at the beach sunbaking or watching Shrek and eating ice cream…(don’t judge me.) But I will try!
I’ve been dreaming of making some coconut ice cream with brownie chunks for a while now, if anyone is interested in that…have a great break every body! xx
Orange and Garlic Hummus: Adapted from this book
250g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 tsp bicarb soda
270g tahini (hulled)
4 tbsp orange juice (or lemon)
1/2 tsp each ground cumin, coriander and ginger
100ml ice cold water
parsley and olive oil, to garnish
Drain the chickpeas and put a pot of water on to boil. Add the bicarb soda, then the chickpeas, and boil for about 20 minutes, until the skins come off and the chickpeas can be easily crushed between your fingers. Drain and peel off any remaining skins. You can use canned chickpeas, but you will have to pick off all the skins yourself. Boil for 5 to 10 minutes. The final weight should be about 600g of chickpeas.
Add to your blender along with the tahini, spices, orange juice and a pinch of salt. blend until combined. Slowly pour in the ice water, blending as you go until the humus is completely smooth and of the desired consistency. Leave to settle for about half an hour before stirring in any crushed chickpeas and herbs for texture.
Top with fresh parsley and olive oil. Keep in a sealed container for up to a week in the fridge, although it’s best fresh.
Mmm sounds delicious…I would have never thought to add orange juice but it makes a lot of sense! Will be trying this the next time I make hummus. 🙂
Thanks Bonnie!
Yum, I love hummus! What a great idea to try it with orange juice, Im so curious to see how this would taste! I’ll have to try it out 🙂
Thanks!
Would never think to put orange flavor in hummus. Sounds interesting. Looking forward to trying it!
Thanks Liz!
Middle Eastern food is the best!!!! You and I definitely share that love, and just like you, my day always includes homous or za’atar or sumac or all three or lots of the other middle eastern foods that I make daily! I’ve never tried orange juice in my homous though, I’ll have to give that a go 🙂 have a great day x
Thanks Elaine! It’s definitely the best vegetarian food! I was surprised by how well it worked 🙂
Cool 🙂
Middle eastern food is definitely some of my favourite as well 🙂 Not a day go by without me eating hummus or something similar. And this hummus look so good. I think it’s nice how different hummus’ can be. The addition of orange sounds amazing. Have to try it 🙂
Thanks Josefine! How great is hummus!
I’m really impressed
Thanks Mum 🙂
The perfect lunch food when paired with some good grainy crackers and a nice selection of fresh raw veggie sticks. Excellent share 🙂
Perfect accompaniments!
Your pictures are making my stomach growl! This humus looks amazing, it’s one of my favorite snacking foods 🙂 Pinning
Thanks Katie!
I always use Ottolenghi’s hummus recipe, Lilli … it works perfectly every time. What a happy accident that you didn’t have any lemon juice, though … I bet this tastes wonderful!
Every recipe in the book is just amazing! Thanks Helen!
Interesting combination! I’ll have to try it out!
Thanks!
I love orange in houmous but had forgotten all about the combination so thank you so much for reminding me! I discovered it by chance – a friend had given me garlic, orange and parsley infused olive oil and it didn’t make sense NOT to use it in the houmous. I’ll be interested to try it with the ginger too, thank you 🙂
Wow that flavour combo sounds delicious! Definitely adding some parsley next time 🙂 Thanks!
I love your twist on hummus. Beautiful photos too.
Thanks Dannii!
Beautiful hummus… love the little orangy twist.. Yumm!
Thanks!
I love hummus so much! The orange and garlic sound lush!
Thanks!
Damn delicious and comforting humus!!!
lovin the citrusy orange on it…..
What an interesting twist on hummus! It sounds really good.
Thanks Amy!
Yum! The citrus must add such a great zing to this hummus!
Thanks!
What a cool idea to use orange juice instead of lemon or lime. I can’t imagine what it would be like. I really need to try it out asap!
Thanks! It was so yummy 🙂