When discussing possible ideas for Vegan MoFo (I’m such a scatterbrain recently, unable to organise anything efficiently) my Joburger friend Claudine suggested a week or two of a South African theme.  And since I know absolutely nothing about the cuisine, it sounded like a fun challenge.

So, Bunny Chow. A street food that’s basically curry in a scooped out bread bowl. It’s usually served in a cut end of a whole loaf, but there are only two of us here and I needed to save space for at least 9 more meals I had planned for the day. Yeah, so rather than massive bread bucket I went with minimal bread roll.

You could really use any favourite curry for the concept, but I thought this turned out pretty well, considering I have no idea what I’m doing here.

Call them what you will; cannelloni, roll ups, rollatini, these aubergine (that’s eggplant in American speak) rolls are stuffed with my own unique take on hummus. I mean, really, I see hummus made with all sorts of ingredients these days. Why not whip up a batch of something with a bit of Thai influence?

I’ll admit it sounds moderately wacky, but there’s something about it that works. Or maybe it’s just the fact that I’m a food hoover. Whatever, I liked it, and I think everyone should play around with their hummus a little bit more.

Recipe Notes

There’s something about grill fried vegetables, those streaky black lines, the hours you’ll spend trying to whip that cast iron skillet into subservience to get to the point of effective grilling. If you’re having a hard time with the outside eggplant slices, just cut the thin layer of skin off and it’ll cook the same as the other pieces.

If you make the whole recipe, they’re great little party snacks!

One of my favourite meals, this delightfully rich stew combines two middle eastern staples to create a mouthwatering stew of aubergine (eggplant) and chickpeas. A full-bodied tomato sauce complemented by tangy pomegranate molasses, zesty lemon and the indespensable garlic (an ingredient of which, in my opinion, you can never have too much), is what makes this dish so unique. It’s simple to make, delicious to eat, and filling to boot!

The Captain (my partner’s newly chosen nickname, a preference over being called “dad” in relation to our four legged children) isn’t so keen on this dish, but I think that’s because I’m really only 50% devoted to him. The other half of my love is pretty much wholly directed toward chickpeas and I think el capitán is just a little jealous and defensive is all.

But honestly, isn’t there room for both man and legume in a woman’s life? Sheesh.

Enjoy your weekends!

Like most other veggie lovers in this dear world, I am capable of consuming hummus at a rate to surpass even your granny’s incessant tirades about kids today.

Okay, I know, I know. As if the four billion alternative preparations out there aren’t enough, this is just what the world needs: another hummus recipe. Variation upon variation of this chickpea paste exists, but this one contains delicious caramelised onion as an added ingredient. Make this by the truckload and share it with everyone you know; even the aforementioned grandma will be impressed.

Recipe Notes

The reason onions caramelise is because they contain some sugar. Perhaps this is a common sense fact, but for most people sugar isn’t what comes to mind when they think of an onion. Try to use onion with a fairly high sugar content, like sweet onions or vidalia, but the standard yellow variety works too. If you’re using a really strong onion, feel free to add a bit of sugar a few minutes into the cooking process in order to aid in caramelisation.

I always use dried chickpeas and soak them overnight, but that’s not to say you can’t cheat and use a can of ‘em. But if you’ve never followed the soaking method I suggest you try it because, in my opinion anyway, it produces a superior taste. It really doesn’t take much extra time (especially if you have a pressure cooker), and it’s also a lot cheaper than buying tins! If you’re using chickpeas from a can then you may not need to add any extra salt to the recipe (depending on whether the beans are in brine), so just be mindful of what’s in the tin.

Everyone has something without which they simply cannot function. Everyone’s got a food obsession, a weakness. The chosen treat of many readers is likely a dish that’s been bastardised from the Italians (in the form of chemically enhaced dough slathered with the lowest quality ingredients imaginable and finally topped with a fatty, oily sediment which one might loosely call “mozzarella”). Or burgers. Or cardboard sandwiches.

Mine is bastardised Arabic food, just in case I haven’t mentioned that already ten billion times. Chickpeas are my BFF. Aubergine (that’s eggplant to you) is my homeboy. I want to marry a pomegranite. My closet lover is a spice shelf stacked with goodies like sumac and cinnamon. You get the idea. I live for this stuff.

I just returned home from a two week surprise visit to see my family in Maryland, 3500 miles on the other side of the Atlantic (it’s a good setup, really), and through that whole time the only Middle Eastern fayre to end up in my stomach tubes was some babaganouj from Whole Foods. By the time my plane landed at Gatwick my body was ready to shrivel up and die.

But you know how it is when you’ve been away: you return home to a ghetto-stocked fridge full of half-eaten leftovers. Thankfully one of those was a tub of hummus I’d made before I left. My husband had already been instructed to greet me with an aubergine, and the freezer held a few old sheets of Phyllo pastry which called out to be defrosted. Provided below is the resulting tale.

Recipe Notes and howto

I know people get frustrated with recipes which don’t include exact amounts and I know I should take better care to measure so I can pass things on properly. But here’s the thing: I suck. Oh, and another thing: your worst case scenario is going to be gooey pastry and aubergine. It’s still going to taste good if you’re into these sorts of flavours.

I used Iranian Advieh in the mix, but consider this optional (here’s a recipe for advieh if you want to try it yourself). I personally like the warmth induced by the cinnamon and hummus combination, but my husband was slightly more skeptical.

If you’re not sure about my instructions below, or are confused, I’ve included some pictures of whole who wrapping up process.

I have no excuse for how long it’s been since I’ve posted a new recipe. I have no excuse for how long it’s been since I’ve developed many new goodies. Okay, I have a little excuse and that’s to do with a combination of the election and Christmas. As some of you know, despite living in the UK, I am an American ex-pat and the election is/was important to me on a number of levels. Primarily I wanted to see my guy win for all sorts of reasons, but I also deal with a lot of election-related merchandise and my energy just had to be focused on that all month. The story with Christmas is similar; as with anything in retail December is a very important month so I needed to be prepared. Unfortunately this site has been neglected as a result of those factors.

I can assure you I will have plenty of other excuses later on, like how miserable and depressing it is that the sun starts going down at 3:30pm and how terrible the light is for photography once the natural light has dipped away. And that I haven’t seen a proper summer in Britain for nearly three years. On the plus side I am hoping to buy a better camera soon! The bottom line is I need some inspiration right now and good tools always help (and would have been handy shooting the roasted tomatoes – my current camera sucks fruitcake).

On to the hummus

Back to business, I have to say I have always claimed to hate tomatoes. This doesn’t count for the cooked variety but rather for anything that’s less than pulverised and heated beyond the consistency and flavour of the original raw thing. This is a viewpoint that changed marginally when I discovered roasted tomatoes, and I highly suggest to anyone who hates tomatoes to give this method a go because it will give you a whole new perspective (at least it did for me).

My local supermarket had about 76,152 kilos of tomatoes discounted one evening so I of course purchased them all. Part of them went into this recipe (because I also had 82,137 chickpeas). The rest just went straight into my belly.

The flavour, in my opinion, is best within just a few hours of preparation, but it will last for quite awhile in the fridge. It’s awesome on sandwiches with a little basil added and of course makes a fabulous dip for pitta bread.