Walnut Hummus
1/2 cup Alison’s Pantry Walnuts
1 can of chickpeas, drained
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp orange zest
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Toast the walnuts in the oven at 180 c for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Cool to room temperature.
In a food processor or blender, combine the toasted walnuts with oil and garlic then blend until smooth.
Lastly, add the lemon juice, orange zest, chickpeas, salt and pepper and continue to blend or process until smooth.
Sam’s Kumara, Date & Almond Tagine
Vegetarian & Vegan friendly
Prep & cook time: 1 hr and 25 mins
Serves 4
A tagine may sound like a whole lot of exotic complication, but it’s surprisingly simple. Basically, it is a delicious vegetable stew, the longer you cook it the better. You don’t have to have a proper tagine dish to make one though; a lidded casserole dish will do superbly.
The thought of using dates in a savoury context may seem a bit strange, but that distinctly Moroccan combination of spices such as cinnamon, cumin and paprika acts as a beautiful foil for the sweetness. This is stunning winter comfort food, perhaps with a little spiced yoghurt as a garnish to counter the richness.
Tagine Ingredients
1kg kumara* scrubbed and chopped 3cm
2-3 tsp each cinnamon, ground cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, sweet paprika and cumin seeds
A thumb’s worth of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
Sea salt and cracked pepper
Olive oil
1 large onion, sliced
A handful of Alison’s Pantry select dates, roughly chopped
700ml vegetable stock
½ cup (50g) Alison’s Pantry ground almonds
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 cups Alison’s Pantry jumbo chickpeas, cooked**
To Serve
3 tbsp Alison’s Pantry sliced natural almonds, toasted
A small handful of coriander leaves
Alison’s Pantry couscous
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
In a roasting dish, combine the kumara with the spices, ginger, a brave seasoning of salt and pepper and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Spread out in an even layer and roast for about 35-40 minutes, until the kumara is lovely and caramelised, and cooked through.
In a large, lidded casserole or large cooking pot, over a medium heat, add a glug of olive oil, let it heat up and gently cook the sliced onion for about 10 minutes until soft and golden brown, then follow with the chopped dates and cook for a further 5 minutes, until the dates have softened. Add the roasted kumara with the scrapings from the pan, the stock, ground almond, carrot and chickpeas, stir well, cover and cook for about 25 minutes. Season well to taste.
Whip up some couscous (1 cup couscous to 1 cup boiling water cover and leave for 5 minutes, will make enough for 4 serves), then flavour with a generous amount of butter, a bit of chopped coriander, some toasted cumin seeds and fluff with a fork.
Serve Tagine with the couscous and scatter over the flaked almonds and the coriander leaves This reheats well, so cook in advance if you fancy.
*Any variety of kumara can be used, or whole scrubbed yams are a great option for this dish.
** Chickpeas – soak overnight in a bowl with 5 cups of water. Rinse and place in a pot with plenty of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to simmer and cook till tender, 1.5 – 2 hours.
Ideas to make more of the dish
This reheats well, so cook in advance if you fancy.
The possibilities for leftovers are many
- Use as a filling for a pie
- Add several lightly beaten eggs to the cold mix and fry off dollops as fritters, excellent with a bit of spiced yoghurt.
Vegetarian Chilli with Walnuts
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 large red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
1 onion, finely diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stems celery, diced
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1⁄2 teaspoon hot smoked paprika
1⁄2 teaspoon garam masala
1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups vegetable stock
2 x 400gram tins chopped tomatoes
3 x 400g tin beans, 1 1⁄2 cups of cooked beans *
1 cup Alison’s Pantry walnuts, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Olive oil or coconut oil for sautéing
Sea salt and cracked black pepper
Method
- Heat a generous glug of oil in a large soup pot over a medium heat.
- Add the garlic, onions, chilli, carrot and celery. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often until the onion is tender and translucent. Add the fennel seeds and other spices. Cook for a further 3 minutes.
- Add the stock, tomatoes and beans. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer for 60-70 minutes until thickened. Add the walnuts and apple cider vinegar in the last 10 minutes of cooking.
- Season to taste with sea salt and cracked black pepper.
* We used chickpeas, black beans and kidney bean
Recipe and photography by Kelly Gibney for Alison’s Pantry
Hummus
This dip is so good, you may want to freeze batches of cooked chickpeas (and some cooking liquid) so you can make it anytime, at very short notice.
1 cup Alison’s Pantry Chickpeas
5 cups hot water
fresh herbs (optional)
1-2 cloves garlic
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp salt
2-3 Tbsp tahini paste
¼ – ½ cup olive oil
¼ – ½ cup cooking liquid
Put the chick peas into a large bowl, cover with hot water and leave to stand for 8 hours or longer. Drain and bring to the boil in 5 cups fresh (unsalted) water (with bay leaves or other herbs if you wish). Simmer for 20 minutes or until tender (or pressure-cook as in recipe below). Drain the chickpeas, and save the cooking liquid.
Chop the garlic in the food processor, then add the cooked drained peas, lemon juice, salt and tahini paste (using more for a stronger flavour). Process, adding ¼ cup oil gradually, ten add cooking liquid (or extra oil) until a smooth, dip-consistency is reached. Use immediately, or refrigerate in a covered container for up to 4 days.
Serve with toasted pita bread triangles, or with corn chips and carrot, capsicum ad celery stick dippers.
Download PDF version: Alison Holst’s Hummas