Red Kidney Bean Hummus

Recently, in a attempt to eat healthier but also to economise, I unearthed my copies of vegetarian cook books from the 1980’s, a time when all may have been flash fast food and ready meals for the rest of the nation, but for vegetarians it was still very much D.I.Y.

I have a distinct feeling that I was a lot more healthy and, to a point, have eaten more healthily, the less money I’ve had available.  Only to a point, mind.  The months where I was living mainly off boiled barley and lentil soup mix (plain) and, a year or so before that, from flatmates’ donated leftovers, I don’t think I was getting much of a good balance food-wise.  But how different things are here and now where the cheap, processed food is everywhere.

My favourite veggie cook book ever has to be ‘The Vegetarian Cook Book 2’ by David Eno.  So old that there isn’t even an image of it on the Amazon listing (but you can pick up a used copy for 1p) and it’s DIY just about everything heaven for veggies.  Maybe I can learn something from the time of relative austerity, of health food shops with barrels of lentils and oats rather than shelves of food supplements and of eating in most nights because it’s only Pizza Hut that has any veggie options.

Buy the book (c’mon, I just said a used copy is 1p) and turn to page 31 and there’s a recipe for Hummus.   I’ve made it – it’s nice, it looks and tastes like hummus.  The variation below is something I thought I’d invented, until I looked online and discovered other people have had the same idea.

Kidney Bean Hummus 20140221_002529

  • 200g red kidney beans, cooked or from a can or carton
  • Little shake of salt
  • 2 small cloves of garlic or 1 large clove, chopped or crushed
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp tahini
  • Cayenne pepper to taste
  1. Blend

(that’s definitely the shortest set of recipe instructions I’ve ever written)

Gazpacho

gazpacho

We just spent a long, hot day at the Foodies festival in Battersea courtesy of our lovely neighbours who gave us tickets.  Being there was pretty awesome, loads to try and loads to buy; we also learned, for example, that Ginger Ale is weaker because it’s made with ginger oil but Ginger Beer (which we bought some of) is stronger because it’s made from ginger root.  We came home with full stomachs, some bread and FREE Tenderstem broccoli that I’ll make something with tomorrow.

When it got to eating time again, I felt too hot and sticky to cook let alone eat anything warm so I knocked up this gazpacho and threw some of our Foodies festival bread on top of it.  For anyone not yet aware, gazpacho is cold soup and is vitamintastic!

  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 beef tomato OR 3 regular tomatoes OR a full handful of cherry tomatoes
  • About 1/3 cucumber
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • Chilled water
  • You can add olive oil but I prefer not to
  • You can also add onions – ditto
  1. Chop and blend the pepper, tomato and garlic
  2. Chop the cucumber very finely
  3. Mix and add chilled water to taste

Oat Bread

IMG_0015 Oat Bread

My friend Neil invented this in the late 1980’s when we were impoverished students.  It’s a very cheap bread that can be served with curries and stews.  It’s high in fat so I wouldn’t call it healthy.  Picture above shows oat bread giving some Tesco Falafel Balls a cuddle while some salad looks on and tries to join in.  Ideally there would also be houmous but we’ve run out – blame Morrisons for closing at 6pm!

Recipe is very easy – mix equal quantities of oats and flour then add a pinch of salt and enough water to make dough, then roll it out into a thin circle and fry it.

Neil, if you’re reading this and I have any part of the equation wrong, please do let me know 🙂

Lentil and tomato curry (because we can’t spell Dhaal …see?)

IMAG0516

Back in my early 20’s I was a thrifty cook, mainly out of necessity and brokeness.  Thus there were some things I made often because they were economical and nourishing.  Some of them even tasted ok, although they wouldn’t have won any beauty competitions.  One such thing is the following lentil curry, which may look like someone has chucked into the pan but which caused my human guinea pig to wonder this evening just why we give so much money to the Indian takeaway place.  I even fried poppadoms to go with it (you need a LOAD of oil in the frying pan and it gets scary but it’s cheap so your fear is saving you money!).

You’ll need:

  • Some red lentils
  • Some tomatoes (either a tin of or some large, fresh tomatoes, which is what I prefer to use now that I earn money)
  • An onion
  • Some garlic
  • Curry powder (although am still using spice mix given to me by the lovely Danielle in 2008)
  • Soya margarine (yes, I know it’s actually called ‘spread’ but nobody calls it that, do they?)
  • Oil for frying
  • Stock powder and/or salt
  1. Wash the lentils and boil for 10 minutes, simmer for another 20-30 just till they’re soft and squidgy
  2. Meanwhile fry onion, garlic and tomatoes and simmer till mushy
  3. Add curry powder/spices to onion, garlic and tomato thing, also add stock powder or salt if wanted
  4. When lentils are done, drain and add to the onion, garlic and tomato thing
  5. Stir together with a knob of soya margarine

People who are allowed to eat dairy may want to use butter instead.  Go on then, just to spite me.  Serve with poppadoms or bread or rice or any combination of those and you too, my friend, may question your allegiance to your local curry house.