Moroccan flavours for winter warming

When I went to Morocco I didn't get to taste a single morsel of the food. I was playing on a cruise ship, we docked for less than 24 hours and I had to be back on the ship for rehearsals at lunchtime. What a shame that now seems.



This week's recipe was Moroccan roast lamb, so I decide to keep the theme running and have a go at homemade houmous too.
The lamb was good. Roasted with butter, garlic, and cumin, and served with couscous and roast Mediterranean vegetables. The only problem with it was that on a cold British sunday what you really want with roast lamb is rosemary, garlic, gravy and roast potatoes. A good dish for a springtime meal though I think.



The houmous on the other hand, I was proud of. Made from scratch, including soaking the chickpeas overnight, it was firmer and less oily than the shop variety. I expect that canned chickpeas would be absolutely fine, but it seemed not quite in the spirit of the project to use them. At least not the first time.

Houmous
100g dried chickpeas
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon tahini
1-2 garic cloves - crushed
Olive oil
Salt and black pepper

Cover the chicpeas in cold water and leave to soak overnight.
The next day rinse the chickpeas, put in a heavy bottomed pan, cover in cold water, bring slowly to the boil. Skim off any scum that forms on the surface, reduce the heat and leave to simmer with the lid on for 1 1/2 - 2 hours until the chickpeas are tender.
Drain, reserving a bit of the cooking liquid. Put into a food processor with the lemon juice, tahini,garlic and seasoning and blend until smooth. Mix in a little olive oil and some of the cooking water until the houmous reaches your prefered consistency.
Taste and adjust to your own preferences - personally I like my houmous fairly lemony but not too oily. I also added a little sprinkle of paprika at the end. A few toasted cumin seeds are also a good addition.
Enjoy!