PEANUT BUTTER HUMMUS

Peanut Butter Hummus.

If a recipe idea comes to me, I am always happy for my inspirations to allow my culinary creativity to wander. The only place I won’t let it wander, is to more than one shop. Basically, despite food and cooking playing a huge role in my life, the one thing I don’t have time for is time wasting. There are very few things in life I would willingly attempt to hunt down in several shops – and since they don’t sell Jamie Dornan in stores these days – I rarely go beyond a one stop shop for my ingredients. The case in point for this recipe: tahini paste for a hummus recipe.

I live in Cardiff. City of plenty and culinary cultural recipes are plenty for the experience thereof. However I am lazy and the concept of walking to a somewhere for the purpose of tahini paste when I get home from work at 6 and have a guest coming over for wine at 6:30 makes me want to throw a strop. My brain did a little overtime on the train ride home where I thought what were the bare essentials of tahini paste and how could I substitute it. Tahini is essentially a nutty paste made from ground sesames seeds. Peanut Butter is essentially a nutty paste. You can see where I’m going with this.

I figured that substituting tahini paste for a little smooth peanut butter with a dash of sesame oil into it fit the bill just as good – if not better as the nuttiness of peanut butter is a little softer and gives a creamy yet still fundamentally grainy texture to the hummus. I was still able to serve my guests some wine and hummus without ever trekking further than my own Kitchen cabinet. The lazy cook in me rejoices again.

Drain two cans of regular chickpeas and empty into a food processor before dousing with a little flavourless oil and a generous squeeze of some lemon juice. Grate in a little of the lemon zest before blitzing them. In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter and a little sesame oil before emptying into the processor of chickpeas. Follow this with a garlic clove and a little cumin before blitzing once more. Add a little Greek yoghurt for a final blitz before stirring everything with a spoon to ensure all is combined and creamy before dolloping into a serve bowl.

In a pan, dry fry some pine nuts (or don’t… I know they’re a bit on the expensive side for what they are!) before removing from the heat. Once cooled, scatter across the hummus followed by a little sprinkling of some smoked paprika. I served my hummus with some toasted pitta but I know carrot and celery and all that jazz goes great with it too. Feel free to dip whatever you feel.

So here is a nifty little example of mine where a one stop shop in a very local supermarket can attain you a beautiful crafted snack and ‘dip option’ for any passing house guests without needing to crawl to Narnia for a single ingredient. While I aim to not be disrespectful to any cultural tradition of the hummus construction, a sesame spiked dollop of peanut butter is more of a lazy homage than a flippant substitute.

Either way – allow yourself to not feel confined to the structures of traditional cuisine and allow your tired legs to make the decision for you.