Hummus

One of the best dips ever from the southern countries and easy to make yourself. In this case my husband Darren made is.

Shopping list:

• 160 gr dry chickpeas
• 1 clove garlic minced (especially when it’s fresh, older ones use 2)
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 6 tbsp tahini paste
• 200 ml cooking liquid
• extra virgin olive oil, for serving
• red pepper flakes, for serving
• fresh parsley

How do we cook it:

1.     Cook chickpeas: The night before soak chickpeas in plenty of water: water should cover the chickpeas by 1-1.5 cl. Next morning rinse and drain the chickpeas well. Transfer them to a cooking pan and put 2.5 times the water (about ½ liter for 160 g chickpeas). Cook covered on the lowest possible heat for about 1.5 hours (see the notes above to check for doneness). Drain, reserve the cooking liquid and wash the chickpeas in 2-3 changes of cold water.

2.     Make hummus: Combine all the ingredients in the food processor and pulse for a few minutes, or until the smooth silky paste. Taste and adjust lemon juice and salt to your taste; add more cooking liquid, if you prefer thinner hummus: mind you that hummus has a tendency to thicken in a few hours. Hummus keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Nice with pitta bread, cucumber, carrots, celery

Meatloaf with Parma ham (American dish)

With the US preparing for the elections, we have prepared an American dish yesterday.  Inspired by Keukenliefde.
In fact our daughter Fleur (13) has cooked the whole meal for us.

Shopping list:



• 500g minced beef
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp mustard (I used English mustard)
• handful chopped parsley (must be fresh, I had them from the garden)
• 1 shallot (I used onion)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 egg
• 30 g breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper
• pinch of pili-pili herbs (beware, hot!) (I used cayenne)
• 2 packets of Parma ham

How to prepare it:

Peel the garlic clove. Put the ground beef in a bowl and squeeze the garlic clove above. Peel the shallot and chop finely him.  

Wash the parsley, pat dry and chop. Put all the ingredients except the Parma ham, with the mince and knead with your hands well.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.  

Lay the slices of Parma ham, slightly overlapping each other, on a chopping board. Shape with your hands an oval meatloaf and put it on the parma ham.  

Roll the meat gently into the Parma ham and place the meatloaf with the 'seam' down on a greased baking tray.
Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes in the oven until the meat is tender.  

Let the meatloaf cool slightly before slicing.

I've served with rosti (ready-bought ready) and a mild warm mustard sauce.

It was heaven!

I am sure that the left-over will be tasty on my sandwich later.

Chinese Spring Rolls

Yesterday we couldn't eat the whole chicken and I suddenly thought I'm going to try to make Chinese spring rolls, as you can eat them in a Dutch Chinese restaurant. A recipe on the Internet and adapted to my own refrigerator stock.

• Pack of filo dough/brick (normally there are 10 slices, and you can make 5 spring rolls out of it)

• Chicken leftovers

• Large carrot

• Onion

• Bean sprouts

•3 Eggs

• Ketjap (sweet soy sauce)

• Clove of garlic

• Sunflower Oil

How to prepare:

Defrost the pastry.

If you use bean sprouts from a jar, drain them first.

Chop the carrot, onion and garlic finely.

Bake in a hot frying pan or wok with a little sunflower oil, the carrot, onion and garlic.

Beat the two eggs in a bowl and fry them in another frying pan.

Cut the chicken and the fried egg into pieces (not too fine) and add it to the vegetable mixture.

Finally, add the bean sprouts and soy sauce. Stir the mixture together, fry the bean sprouts briefly.

With egg nr. 3 you stir it to seal the edges of the dough.

For a spring roll, it’s better to use two sheets of filo pastry to prevent faster cracks.

Then fill and fold to parcels.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees and bake about 20 minutes.

Serve with chilli jam, or sweet sauce, or satay sauce or with nothing.