Tag Archives: chickpeas

hippy salad- Frugal Friday

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We’re having pizza!!! sang The Monkey’s to Mr Chocolate as he closed the front door behind him.

Two grinning boys launched themselves at their father…pizza! 

Mr Chocolate looked happy too as he scanned the table tops with their proving doughs. Although, you’re not having pizza Dada, I think you’re having salad, said a sombre looking Monkey Boy. His face fell, as he looked to me to for confirmation.

Yep, mung bean salad lucky man.

(oh relax, I’m feeling generous… you can have pizza as well.)

Hippy Salad

sprouted mung beans

one can of chickpeas

one finely sliced capsicum (pepper)

one finely sliced small chilli

couple of finely sliced shallots

Dressing

a couple of slugs of great local olive oil

good pinch of cumin

and dried coriander

salt/pepper to taste

pop half a clove of crushed garlic (new season- which is a bit damn exciting)

juice of half a back yard lemon,

 shake it up a bit and

add to your salad

eat with gusto… or pizza

houmus- frugal Friday

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Tahini was one of those food items that I had long since written off as something I didn’t particularly like. I didn’t mind it in other peoples cooking, but I certainly wasn’t going to be eating it by the spoonful from the jar. If you can imagine a cat coughing up a fur ball, that would be me trying to eat a spoonful of tahini.

Then I decided that I wanted to make houmus for The Monkeys though. When making houmus it needs tahini, everyone knows that, so I was going to have to revisit my spoonful of fur ball.

I decided to try the unhulled darker type as it had been the hulled version I had always tried in the past. With teaspoon at the ready, I dipped in.

Holy houmus, it was delicious.

It tried another small piece to see if my taste buds were tricking me. Nope, it really was. It was like peanut butter…but sesame butter. Now I don’t know if my taste buds have simply changed over time or unhulled tastes ridiculously better than hulled. Either way, it’s now a staple in the fridge and The Monkeys can have as much houmus as they want, as this dip is dead easy to make.

Houmus

400g canned chick peas

1 clove raw garlic

1/4 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp cumin

4 tbls olive oil

3 tbls lemon juice

1 tbls unhulled tahini

salt and black pepper to taste

Whiz it all up in a hand held blender. Spoon it out on to a dish, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with a little paprika.

Moroccan Chickpeas- Frugal Friday

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Super quick, and super easy. If you prefer dried chickpeas just soak them before hand, and for the tomatoes if you have fresh ones available in abundance use them. Garlic is also another thing I would usually put in here, but not having access to Australian garlic for the moment, most dishes are garlic less. If you have it at home though, whack it in.

Moroccan Chickpeas

In a pot add a couple of good slurps of olive oil

a diced onion

2 tsp coriander

2 tsp cumin

1 can chickpeas

1 can tomatoes

rinse the can out with half water, pop it in

2 bunches of chopped English spinach

2 chopped carrots

and whack the lid on for about 10 minutes.

Salt to taste and serve with basmati rice or cous cous, a dollop of natural yogurt, a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkling of turmeric.

10 minutes to prepare, and ten minutes to cook