HUMMUS

 

Making your own hummus using the solar oven cuts down on food miles and energy costs and adds love as an ingredient! Chickpeas take forever to cook on the stove-top and need constant monitoring to make sure they haven’t boiled dry.  By soaking them overnight and cooking them in the solar oven you can walk away do other things and not worry that they will boil dry and burn. Starting from scratch means the environmental costs of canning and extra freighting of tins (peas and water) are eliminated.

 

1/2 cup dried chickpeas

1 clove garlic, crushed

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

1 tsp paprika

½ cup tahini

¼ cup lemon juice

1 Tbs olive oil

finely chopped parsley

 

Method

1. Soak chickpeas overnight

2. Drain and place in a covered casserole dish, with water just covering the peas and 1/4tsp salt.

3. Orient solar oven and cook chickpeas until tender.

4. Reserve some peas for decoration and mash the rest.

5. Add garlic, salt, pepper and half the paprika, blend in the tahini and lemon juice.

6. Spoon into serving dish, decorate with peas, drizzle with oil, dust with paprika and parsley.

 

 

ROASTED SWEET POTATO AND CASHEW HUMMUS

 

300g sweet potato

½ cup (100g) dried chickpeas

2 tbsp roasted unsalted cashews (or almonds)

1 tbsp tahini

1 clove crushed garlic

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp sweet paprika plus a bit for garnish

pinch of chilli

60 ml olive oil plus a bit for garnish

1 tbsp lemon juice

 

1. Soak chickpeas overnight

2. Cook, just covered with water in a casserole, lid on, until very soft.

3. Simultaneously bake sweet potato in skin until mushy. Remove the skin.

4. Blend all ingredients together with 2-3 tbsp warm water until creamy, add water or lemon juice if mixture too stiff.

5. Season to taste

6. Serve in a beautiful bowl, drizzle with oil and dust with paprika.

 

This is very delicious and a great use of solar cooking.