Garlic Hummus

It helps when your mother-in-law to-be and you live in the same city. It gets even better when the son lives in far away Canada, which means that you get the undivided attention of his Mother.

Almost every weekend, before I got married to P, my Mum-in-law would make sure she would send me home-cooked food from their place to mine. This was in Delhi. Among her favorite things to send would be a jar of freshly made Garlic Hummus which she learnt many years ago during their stay in the Middle East.

I got so hooked to her Garlic Hummus, that I would eat it with everything. Including slices of toasted bread. Before my jar of Ma’s Hummus got over, she would make more and send through someone or bring it herself. I also think she did not mind a prospective daughter-in-law with garlic breath, as long as the garlic was from her Hummus.

I have learnt to make Ma’s Garlic Hummus, and find it an easy dip for finger food of freshly cut vegetables like carrots, celery, broccoli, etc.

Ingredients for Garlic Hummus are:

2 cups cooked chickpeas, retain a little water its boiled in
3 tablespoons white sesame seeds, lightly roasted
4-5 garlic cloves
Juice of one lemon
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Sprig of fresh parsley
Quarter cup + 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Salt

Traditionally, Tahini is used in Hummus, but if you don’t have it, use roasted sesame seeds like I do.

Start by breaking down the sesame seeds in a blender. Then add the chickpeas, garlic, EVOO and lemon juice and give it a good whoosh, till you get a thick, smooth consistency. You can add spoonfuls of the water you have retained from cooking the chickpeas to get the right consistency of the Hummus.

Do a taste test and see if you need any salt. Season accordingly.

Just before serving, drizzle a little more of the EVOO, a generous pinch of chopped fresh parsley and cayenne pepper on the Hummus. You can use it as a spread between your pita bread or roti, or just as a freshly made dip for breadsticks, vegetables or kebabs.

The Hummus bowl that you see here is something I made at Pottery School, I had in mind the “Middle East” and my hands just followed my mind.

More pictures of my Pottery Work is here.

Take A Wok

The wok is the guest star of this recipe. Apart from being fun to cook in, it also lends a logical system of flavor building. Let me explain, heat spreads evenly in a wok. Its a tool that is built for speed. Because cooking in a wok is done on high flame, the rule is to add the more hardy ingredients first and then toss in the vegetables and meat which take less time to cook.

The versatile wok is a big part of cooking in Asia and the Indian sub-continent. In most parts of India, we do some heavy duty deep frying in a kadhai (Hindi for wok).

In Chinese cooking, woks are used for stir frying too, which is a very active process of throwing fresh ingredients in a wok with very little oil.

You can call today’s recipe Stir-fried Seafood with Noodles, with a Chinese influence. I will call it Seafood Chowmein.

Ingredients for the Seafood Chowmein are:

Egg noodles enough for 4 people
1 cup seafood mix (I used from mixed bag of octopus, cuttlefish, squid, clams and mussels)
Half cup shrimp, cleaned and deveined
Three-fourth cups bean sprouts
Half cup snap or snow peas
Couple of green onions, (green and white) julienned
1 tablespoon ginger cut into matchsticks
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons Hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
Fresh black pepper powder
Salt

When you are cooking in a wok, the key is to keep everything sliced, diced and prepped. Arrange everything on a plate in the exact same order they will go in the wok. Something like this!Thoroughly wash the frozen seafood before you cook them.
Cook the egg noodles as per instructions on the packet. Drain and keep aside.
I started off by heating a spoonful of sesame oil for that authentic Asian flavor. You can use any high smoke point cooking oil like sesame or peanut oil for Asian stir fries. But definitely not olive oil.

Add the ginger and garlic and stir for about 30 seconds. Toss in the seafood mix next.
Cook on high flame for about five minutes and add the snow peas and bean sprouts and toss around for another couple of minutes. Add the sauces and the salt and pepper seasoning.
Add the cooked noodles and mix well.

For the garnish, toast sesame seeds in a frying pan on low heat, shaking the pan frequently not to burn them.
Check the seasoning before you finally serve the Seafood Chowmein, which is pretty much immediately after you turn the heat off!

Garnish with the the julienned green onions and the sesame seeds which are all toasty by now. And maybe a hint of cilantro for special effects.
I have a wok. Actually two. Who needs take out now?