Black Eyed Pea Hummus or Karamani Dip

I love Hummus dip. Hummus is prepared using chickpeas. I usually have the dip during the morning or afternoon tea parties at work with rice crackers or sweetnsalt biscuits. Sometimes I dip carrot sticks & celery sticks into the hummus.  I had lots of black eye pea in my pantry, which I only use occasionally for making dhal or add it to the vegetable curry. I was thinking to try and make something different with the black eye pea/karamani. After seeing the hummus dip in the recent morning tea at work, the idea of making hummus with karamani came up. Without further stories let me take you through the recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Black Eye Pea/karamani - 1 cup

2. Garlic - 3 pods

3. White sesame seeds - 1 tbsp

4. Extra virgin Olive oil - 1 tbsp

5. Salt - to taste

6. Black pepper or Paprika - a pinch (optional)

Method:

1. Soak Karamani/Pea overnight. Cook the lentil in the pressure cooker for one whistle.

2. Let the lentil cool until it passes the room temperature. You can even keep the lentil in the fridge for 1 hr.

3. Drain the excess water from the lentil & let it dry for few minutes until you get the other things ready.

4. Dry toss the sesame seeds until it turns light brown colour.

5. In a blender/food processor jar take the lentil, garlic, roasted sesame seeds, salt, olive oil, salt, & pepper; grind into a fine paste. Add some of the water drained from lentil to make a fine paste. 

Important tip- store the dip in an airtight container. It keeps fresh only for upto 4 days maximum one week. It is best to prepare fresh when required.

Notes:-

1. Adjust the dip consistency with the drained lentil stock (water) as per your desire, but don't make it too runny or too thick.

2. Black eyed pea is fully packed with protein, vitamin & calcium. Spread this dip on chapathis, roll it and enjoy the healthy roll for lunch or dinner.

Cooking Tips- 

1. You can also cook it in a saucepan. 

2. The cooked lentil should be crunchy i.e you should still be able to break it using your fingers.

Please don't hesitate to post your questions or comments about the recipe.

Cashew nut Chutney

Cashew nut is always my weakness. It is my favorite snack. We mostly use cashew nuts for making curry/gravy dishes or as a seasoning for the rice & other main dishes. For a different taste today I wanted to try and create cashew nut chutney. Can you guess how it tasted?? It was looking & tasting beautiful, smooth, creamy and spicy too. So I decided to share the recipe with everyone.

Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Cashew nuts - 1/4 cup
2. Dry Red Chillies - 3
3. Split Urid Dhal - 1 tbsp
4. Garlic - 2 pods
5. Oil - 1 tsp
6. Salt - to taste
7. Water - to grind chutney
8. Curry leaves - to garnish

Method:

1. In a heavy bottomed pan heat oil, add split urid dhal and fry till it turns golden brown.
2. Add dry red chillies, & garlic pods sauté for few seconds.
3. At last add cashew nuts & roast the nuts until it turns to light brown colour. Quickly remove from heat.
4. Get the mixture to room temperature and blend it dry until the cashews are 3/4th powdered.
5. Add 1/2 cup water, and salt to the powder and blend it to smooth thin paste. Adjust water to your preferred consistency.
6. Check for salt & adjust according to your taste.
7. Season the chutney with curry leaves and serve with dosa or idli.

This chutney should be a bit spicy because cashew nuts naturally give a mild sweet flavor to the dish. The reason for adding garlic is to give the spice punch to the chutney. I personally felt ginger wouldn't go with cashews so I avoided it.

You can give variations to the chutney by adding coconut to it. I saw in the Internet that some people posted tomato & cashew nut chutney. Like this if you have your version of cashew nut chutney don't forget to share it with everyone.