Hummus with Ful

From Plenty, Yotam Ottolenghi, Ebury Press, 2010.

Before commencing this dish both chickpeas and dried broad beans had to be soaked overnight. The chickpeas had bicarbonate of soda added to their water.

The next day the chickpeas were drained and put in a saucepan with fresh water and another lot of bicarbonate of soda. They were then brought to the boil and simmered until soft. The recipe mentions 2-3 hours but mine seemed to be quite ready after a little more than an hour.

The broad beans also had to be cooked until soft. Before that I had to remove the hard skins as mine still had the skins on. They went in the saucepan and were simmered like the chickpeas and, like the chickpeas, did not require nearly the time mentioned to be done.

The chickpeas were drained and put in the food processor with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt. The mixture was churned until a soft paste. A little of the cooking water had to be added to make it a soft paste. This was basically now ready.

The beans when soft were drained. They were soft enough to be beaten with a fork. They had olive oil, lemon juice, ground cumin, salt and a crush garlic clove added and were beaten again until they had become a soft mix.

The hummus (chickpea mix) was spread on a plate and the ful (broad bean mix) paced in the centre. Paprika was sprinkled over with some olive oil and lemon juice. We ate them with pitta bread, boiled eggs, tomatoes and red onion.

The hummus was great; the ful okay. All in all though this was a filling and satisfying meal. Sharing a plate and dipping pitta in to scoop up the tasty bits is always fun. I enjoyed the fact that the hummus was totally fresh and warm and made at home. Another success from Plenty.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔