SILKY HUMMUS WITH SPICED PITA PILLOWS

(courtesy Chef Vikas Seth, Culinary Director at Embassy Leisure)

INGREDIENTS

For the silky hummus

● Kabuli Chana 250 grams

● Baking soda 1 tsp(optional)

● Tahini paste 60 grams

● Roasted garlic paste 50 grams

● Olive oil 60 ml

● Ice cubes/chilled water as required

● Lemon 60 ml

● Salt to taste

For finishing

● Olive oil 3 tbsp

● Kabuli Chana, boiled 3 tbsp

● Paprika/Chili Powder 1 tsp

For Pita Pillows

● Refined flour 500 grams (plus 100 grams for dusting and rolling)

● Yeast 1½ tsp

● Sugar 1½ tsp

● Salt 1½ tsp

● Oil 2 tbsp

● Water 225 ml

For the Spice Mix 2 tsp

● Paprika powder 2 tsp

● Black sesame seeds, toasted ½ tsp

● White sesame seeds, toasted ½ tsp Oregano ½ tsp

● Orange peel, dried, crushed ½ tsp

METHOD

● Wash the Kabuli chana and soak it overnight or for eight hours in water.

● Rinse again, transfer to a cooking pot, add water, salt, baking soda and cook well, can take up to 90minutes or more. You can even pressure cook up to six whistles. Make sure there is no bite to it on tasting, you should be able to mash chana with your fingers easily.

● Drain the cooked Kabuli chana and keep aside to cool down.

● In a food processor, add in the boiled Kabuli chana, tahini sauce, roasted garlic paste, olive oil, lemon juice and a few ice cubes. Blend this into a smooth paste, it will take a couple of minutes. Adjust the seasoning and consistency by adding in the salt and chilled water, further blend it to achieve silky smooth paste.

● Transfer it into a serving bowl, make a well in the centre, drizzle some olive oil, place a few pieces of boiled chana and garnish with fork impressions of paprika or paprika sprinkle.

To make the Pita Pillows

● To luke warm water, add yeast and sugar to it, and set aside for 10 minutes. Sieve flour with salt, add oil and warm water mix, knead into a smooth dough, would take approximately 10 minutes. Shape it into a dough ball and rest in an oiled

bowl. Cover it with a wet kitchen napkin and let it rise to double in size, which would take approximately

an hour.

● After an hour of resting, turn the dough onto a floured surface, press the air out and divide the dough into 6 equal parts and shape it into balls, covering it with a wet kitchen napkin. Take one dough ball at a time, dust it with flour and roll it into a rectangular sheet, about 1/8 inch thick. You can marginally trim the sides to achieve the exact shape of 7.5" x 5" sheet.

● it with water on top and dust it with spice mix. Divide the rectangular sheet into six small squares with a pizza cutter.

● Bake it in a stone oven at 275 C, the dough should be nicely puffed in a minute, turn the sides to have an even baking. It should be baked with slightly brown speckles on the edges. Transfer to a breadbasket lined with a napkin. Serve warm along with the silky hummus. Repeat the same with the rest of the dough balls.