Cholay Makhani (Buttery Chickpeas)

This cholay recipe has been on repeat in our home.  Originally I was adding sour cream because I would make it too spicy and wanted to tone it down.  The picture above has sour cream added to it.  Once I forgot to add the sour cream and it was just as tasty.  So I've made the addition of sour cream an option.  I have tried making it by frying my own onions, but we prefer how it turns out by using the ready made fried onions.

Murgh Cholay {Chicken & Chickpea Curry}

When I first started cooking I used to use a lot of Shan Masala. For those of you who don't know what Shan Masala is, it is a spice mix and has simple directions for how to make the dish.  There are Shan packets for just about every Pakistani or Indian dish you can imagine.  I found them really helpful when I got married.  It helped me get familiar with the process of cooking and not get hung up on all the ingredients.

Herbed Hummus Dip

Recently I shared with you a recipe for Syrian Kebobs which we enjoyed with some Herbed Hummus Dip.   Today I'm sharing the recipe for the Herbed Hummus Dip.  I found the recipe in an old Canadian Living magazine.  This dip is different from a traditional hummus.  There is no tahini in it which is something I really liked because it makes it school-friendly.  We aren't allowed to send lunches that have sesame seeds since one of the students is allergic.  This Herbed Hummus Dip is very quick to put together.  It is great not only for dipping but as a spread in a sandwich or wrap.

Chickpea Avocado Salad with Lime and Chilli Dressing

This is one of our favourite chickpea salads.  We love to crumble pita chips or crackers on top for nice little crunch.  I saw this recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen but made a few changes.  I left out the tomato.  It adds great colour but I preferred to leave it out.  I also left out the green onion since I usually don't have any and I wanted to reduce the chopping.   For Kalyn's recipe the avocado is optional but for me it's a must.  I love the creamy texture it adds.

Spinach and Chickpeas

Chickpeas are something everyone in our home loves.  Whether it's a salad or cooked or hummus, we are always going through a lot of chickpeas.  I came across this recipe on Smitten Kitchen while searching for an Indian cholay recipe.  This is nothing like our traditional cholay but it was such a great change.  I loved the addition of spinach.  In the picture above I left the baby spinach whole.  You can roughly chop it as well which is how I prefer to have it.  Make sure to just wilt the spinach otherwise it can get a bit slimy.  I usually end up making this recipe when I have some baby spinach I need to use quick before it goes bad.

Avocado Hummus {SRC}

It's time for Secret Recipe Club again.  This month I was assigned Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen.  It didn't take me long to pick a recipe to make.  As soon as I saw Avocado Hummus I knew I had to try it.  We love hummus...the kids will eat hummus in a bowl with a spoon.  We are also crazy about avocados.  This recipe doesn't use any tahini so I was curious how it would turn out.  It turned out great!  The avocados add a wonderful creaminess to the hummus.  Hasan wasn't a big fan but I think it was because it was green.  He had the same reaction when I made Green Monster last year.  Which is weird because green is his favorite colour.  Bilal on the other hand loved it!  Thank you Bobbi for this recipe.  I will be making it again soon!

Sameena's Chickpea Mango Salad

A while ago my cousin sent me a recipe for this salad.  I wanted to try it because of the mix of sweet and savory but I never had all the ingredients around.  I recently went to my parents and when mangoes are in season they give me a big bag of them.  I had some peppers and I just needed to go buy some jalapenos to make this salad.  I had to make some changes because Sameena is American and in America you get 15 oz cans of chickpeas..here in Canada we get 19 oz cans.  So my change was simply to double the dressing and I also added salt.  We really liked this salad.  I loved the sweetness of the mango. 

I know my son would have loved it but he was being a stubborn 4 year old at the time and didn't want to try it.  Next time I would add some more mango and jalapeno. I couldn't really taste the jalapeno.

Creamy Yogurt Hummus

This is my first blog post and it has nothing to do with chocolate or chillies...

Tomorrow I was planning on making some Arab kebabs and I want to have some hummus with it.  I love hummus and would love to make it at home but it calls for tahini, which I don`t have and has a lot of fat.  It also only comes in a huge jar which I`m barely going to use.  I found a recipe on Canadian Living which uses yogurt.  I only like to use CEDAR chickpeas.  I find other brands are inconsistent and most times are really dry.

I've made this hummus before and it turned out watery and really didn't have the flavor of hummus. So this time I put the yogurt in a cheesecloth to draw out the liquid.

I also toasted the sesame seeds before grinding them.  The consistency was better but it still doesn't taste like hummus.  I think next time I will skip toasting the sesame seeds.  I would call this more of a chickpea spread or dip than hummus.  My search for a low fat hummus continues.....