this dip is incredible! it's a nigella lawson recipe, and i just couldn't resist making it...though i ended up doing it a little differently to hers.
ever since my dad went into anaphylactic shock a couple of years ago, we haven't eaten chickpeas. and that means no hommus :( so i was so happy to discover this pseudo-hommus! same texture, no allergy - it's really win-win.

this is how i did it. it's not the true recipe, but seeing as we don't eat garlic during the week (we love it, but my dad goes to a lot of meetings and doesn't like the halitosis it gives you) and seeing as we don't have a food processor, i couldn't make it exactly the same. so i improvised a little, and reckon it turned out pretty splendidly!

***

red kidney bean dip

olive oil (not extra virgin)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 can red kidney beans, drained
copious amount of tomato paste
ground cumin
ground coriander
ground cinammon
lime juice (from about 1 lime)
pepper and salt
basil and coriander leaves, to garnish
flatbread, to serve

***

heat the oil and add the onion, cooking until browned. if you were to use garlic, you would add it here in crushed form (about 3 cloves).

add the red kidney beans and tomato paste. i love tomato paste and so am quite liberal with it (perhaps too much so) but just add as much as you like, i think.

add the cumin, coriander, cinammon and lime juice. i'm also liberal with my spice usage, but again, use as much as you like. the lime juice was taken from a bottle, so i just added a little, tasted, and then added more if i didn't think it was flavoured well enough.

remove from the heat and cool slightly. the dip should look deliciously like chilli con carne. it's now meant to be added to a food processor and turned into a hommus-esque puree, but as i lack such equipment i had to improvise. it may be overwhelmingly unorthodox of me, but i ended up using a regular old potato masher. it didn't really do a great job of pureeing the dip, but it broke it down into a worthy dippish pulp.

once your dip is sufficiently pulverised, put it in a bowl. cover it in cling wrap and place in the fridge until about 30 minutes before serving. once you're ready, let the dip come to room temperature and add some pepper and salt to taste.

nigella used grated lime zest to garnish, but as i didn't have lime zest i used some herbs from my flourishing pride and joy of a herb garden. coriander is one of my favourite herbs, and as it was already used in the dip i didn't see a problem with adding a bit of the fresh variety. and i absolutely love the peppery scent and taste of basil, so i couldn't resist adding some.

serve with pitta, flatbread or any bread really. or you could even just eat it on its own, i reckon it's nice enough!

life has been such a mix lately! ups and downs, but nothing really out of the ordinary.

basically, i've....

finished uni (apart from finals) - relief!!!!

got a "job" (tutoring at a local library)

applied to study overseas in the second half of next year (eek)

done quite a bit of cooking - despite the heat we've been having, i couldn't resist making this: (toad in the hole)



and this: (chocolate, almond and mascarpone cookies)



i did a bit of inventing with the cookies, and they came out pretty well. at any rate, they tasted better than they look :)

i recently re-read this:



it's a non-fiction book and the debut work by science writer Rebecca Skloot. it tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, a young black woman who died in 1951 (aged 31) from an aggressive form of cervical cancer. cells taken from her tumour were grown in culture and defied all expectations by multiplying as an immortal cell line. this cell line (HeLa) has led to significant medical advancements (including the development of the polio vaccine). such a great book, i've read it about five times already, but each time i pick it up again it's only more brilliant.

today is remebrance day - commemorating the men and women who have fallen in war. as australia has recently lost a few diggers, i think today's remembrance day is even more significant that usual.

as Laurence Binyon wrote in 1914:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

lest we forget.











peace.