A quick dip

Hummous is great, and I eat a lot of it… I mean a lot!!

A dip for raw veggies, a quick and easy base for my roasted vegetable tart, a simple spread for sandwiches or tortilla wraps… the list goes on. It’s strange as I never used to like raw carrot but since discovering hummous I can devour carrot stick after carrot stick and not get bored, it’s just something about the combination of those favours that really gets me going.

But, sometimes I fancy something slightly different.

This quick and simple dip takes literally a couple of minutes to put together and is super cheap and healthy. Great as a basic dip or spread, but also as a sauce for pasta- it makes a great alternative to tomato based sauces!  If you do use it as a sauce be sure to thin it out slightly with some soy milk (or any other non dairy milk or water ) as it coats the pasta so much better and the texture is much nicer.  The first time I used it this way I didn’t thin it out and it just didn’t do it for me, the ‘sauce’ was too thick and lost the silky coating I was after.

I have included jalapeno peppers to add a bit of a kick as I like a bit of heat, but feel free to omit these or adjust the amount to taste.

                                                      

                                                                 

Recipe: pea and black bean dip

Makes one small bowl

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves (or 1tsp garlic paste)

1 ½ cups frozen peas (thawed)

1 cup cooked/canned black beans

A few green jalapeno pepper slices

2 tbs fresh lemon juice

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp ground garamasala spice (or ground cumin)

½ red onion chopped

Small handful fresh coriander (dried if no fresh available)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Blend all ingredients in food processor until smooth. Store in the fridge. Best used within two days.