I
want to write about a nice snack today that I thoroughly enjoy. It
can be offered at parties or just enjoyed at home on dark autumn
evenings.
I
have already published my basic chickpea hummus recipe, but today's
recipe is a different hummus with a lovely spicy and smoky flavour.
The hummus is similar chickpea based hummus but with added
char-grilled sweet red peppers. They add a great flavour and nice
colour to this dip.
Today
I combined the hummus with Finnish style potato flatbreads. Also
about these I have already published an article. They are very easy
but tasty breads and even a great way to use your left-over potato
mash. There's not much kneading needed and the dough is easy to
shape. This time I actually managed to get barley and granary flour,
so getting closer to the authentic Finnish ones.
The hummus
150g sweet baby
red peppers
Vegetable oil for
char-grilling the peppers
150g dried
chickpeas
2 garlic cloves
1 lemon's juice
1tsp cumin powder
4tbsp water
5tbsp olive oil
1tsp paprika
1tsp salt
The only downside
of this is that if you use dried chickpeas, you'll have to remember
to put them to soak on the previous evening or early in the morning
if you make this in the evening. I like working with the dried ones
and I also have truck loads of them, so it's good to make a lot of
hummus.
So, soak the dried
chickpeas first and then cook them. First heavily boil them for a
couple of minutes and then let them boil slower for about one hour
until they are soft. Stir occasionally.
In the meanwhile
char-grill the peppers in a grill pan. I used small baby peppers, so
they could just be cut in half before the grilling. If you use larger
ones you can chop them a little bit smaller. First heat some
vegetable oil and then grill and turn the peppers until they have
black charring marks and are cooked softly.
After the
chickpeas are cooked soft let them cool. Chop the garlic and squeeze
the lemon juice into a bowl with the garlic and peppers. Add the
chickpeas and season with paprika, cumin and salt. Add the olive oil
and water and puree into an even paste. Taste again and add more
seasoning or more fluid if needed.
The potato flatbreads
You can make these
breads while the chickpeas are boiling. Then they should both be nice
and fresh to be enjoyed together.
500g potatoes or
potato mash
3dl barley flour
1 egg
1tsp salt
Peel the potatoes
and boil them until soft. Then chase them through a potato ricer or
just mash them as usual. You can of course skip these steps if you
are using a left-over potato mash. Add the egg to the potatoes and
stir. Then add the flour and salt and knead for a while until the
dough is even.
Roll the dough out
thinly and use a cookie cutter to cut out small flatbreads. Place
them on a greased baking tray or baking paper. If you so will you can
also make a larger bread. Typically this is a very easy dough to
shape as the potatoes are good binding agents. Obviously it pays off
using tasty waxy potatoes.
Bake the breads at
180-200C for about 20 minutes until they have received some brown
spots.
And there you have
today's snack dish. Enjoy!
Your VegHog
