Friday, July 30, 2010

My favourite quick dish of the summer: Harissa-spiked houmous

Harissa hummus

If there is one dish that I've been making over and over again (apart from fried chantarelle mushrooms in various disguises), it's this quick and spicy version of houmous, the Middle-Eastern chickpea/garbanzo dish. I love the traditional houmous to bits, but sometimes it's nice to play around with your favourites a bit. I've had my fling with a beetroot houmus, and I've been eyeing a roasted pepper houmous recipe for a while now. But first, I need to get tired of this harissa-spiked houmus recipe, and this hasn't happened yet. (If you've got a favourite 'way with houmus', then I'd love to hear about it!)

I use Belazu's Rose Harissa, but any other favourite would work just as well. Suitable for vegetarians, vegans, celiacs as well, so a very handy recipe to have :)

Harissa-spiked houmous
(Hummus harissaga)
Adapted from BBC Good Food, June 2009 (see original recipe)
Serves 4 to 6

Harissa hummus

400 g can of chickpeas/garbanzos
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
couple of spoonfuls of water
1 large garlic clove, chopped
about half a lemon, juiced
1 scant Tbsp harissa paste
1 Tbsp tomato pureé / tomato paste
salt, to taste

coriander/cilantro or parsley for garnishing (optional)

Drain the chickpeas and place to the food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until you've got a smooth paste (or slightly coarse, if that's how you prefer your houmous). Taste for seasoning - if you wish, add some more harissa or lemon juice or salt.
Excellent with toated pita bread, or on a slice of toast, or spread on crispy crostini or as a dipping sauce with some crudités.

Hummus with harissa / Harissaga hummus

9 comments:

Karima said...

tundub hea :)hummus üldse pitaleivaga viib keele alla

Kalyn Denny said...

Wow, this does sound interesting. Great photos too, I can almost taste it.

Pille said...

Karimake - hummus on tõesti hää!

Kalyn - I bet it's SBD friendly as well ;)

Helen - Chandeliers said...

This looks so beautiful. Very nicely done. I love this.

Thanks.

Marisa said...

This is so clever! Definitely going to be making these.

Gitte said...

I have to get myself some Harissa paste or powder, I keep hearing about it :) This looks great!!!

Kat said...

oi kui hea mõte, hummus on minu lemmik suvesöök ka, aga harissaga saab nii ilus :)

thepassionatecook said...

that sounds and looks wonderfu1! i can't tell you how much i miss cooking here in my serviced appartment, even with the thermomix it's a pain... hope to find a place soon! xx

Katrina said...

thank you for this, Pille! I've just come back from Morocco with loads of Harissa, so perfect!

I make Humous weekly, but I like mine with quite a bit of Tahini. I also like to leave out a few chickpeas unprocessed and plonk them on top of Humous with slugs of green olive oil..yum