Hummus

Few years back we went for holiday in Egypt for a month. It was Shyama's and my first trip to the country so we both were really excited. Hans though has been there 5 times and it was his 6 th trip with us, so it was like having our personal guide with us.

The only hotel we had booked was in Cairo and then we said we will decide how many days we will stay in cairo and then from there we will book hotels when we deiced were we want to go.

So we stayed almost a week in cairo and then from there went to Aswan, stayed couple of days and then from there went to other places, ended up in Luxor and stayed there in this hotel over looking Nile for more than a week etc......

I think during this time we ate hummus almost every other day.

One of the best meal we had in Egypt was in Aswan in a small restaurant. It was our first day in the city and we arrived mid morning after a whole night of train journey from cairo and after checking into a hotel etc....it was almost 2 O'clock we decided to have our lunch. So we went in search or a place to eat.

We didn't had to search long, there was this place near to the hotel, we wanted to go in but then I thought it was closed so we were just going to go away and this fellow from the place came out saying we are opend come in come in.

So as we were so hungry we went in, and that was a very local establishment, I didn't see any females I only saw males eating there, we took out place and the thing was they didn't had a menu card, and Hans told the fellow just bring us your local food for 3 people.

Well I have to say they started bringing these platters of food filled with various kind of dishes with meat and vegetable and pulses, heaps of rice and their local bread, when we though it was almost done they brough again other dishes and I was like my god wait till we get the bill we will have a heart attack not from teh abundance of food but seeing the bill.

Well the food was so good and as we were so hungry I have to admit we ate almost everything they brought

I have to admit I was a bit nervous when they brought the bill, but it was not that expensive at all . Normal price :-)

We still talk about that mal and the expirence, it just shows you don't have to go to a very expensive place to enjoy good food, especially when you are in a new country if you want to eat local food just go to the place the local goes you will have a real authentic dishes to enjoy.

200 gm dried chickepea. ( Soak them overnight and then cook in a pressure cooker)

5 to 6 tbsp of thaini paste

2 garlic cloves chopped fine

2 tsp cumin powder

80 ml lemon juice

6 tbsp olive oil

Cayane peper or you can use a bit of chilli powder

Salt to taste

extra olive oil to sprinkl before serving

paprika powder to sprinkle before serving

finley chopped parsley leaves for garnishing

Cook the chickpea after soaking them over night in a pressure cooker.

Drain them ( keep a little bit of the waterl) and cool.

In a food processor puree the chickepea with teh thaini paste,garlic,cumin,lemon juice, oliveoil ,cayanpeper and salt puree it to a smooth thick paste , add the ooking water a little and ( I don't know the correct measurement of water I just add till i get a smooth less thick paste)

Taste and if you think you need more salt or lemon juice add .

Pour this mix into a bowl, sprinkle with oil, paprika powder, parsley and serve with toaste pita bread, slices bagutte etc.....

I made this Hummus ages ago actually the day when I made this Tapenade but till now i has been sitting there waiting for me to post .