Having made the curry yesterday using chickpeas, I had some cooked ones left. I didn’t measure them when I was pouring them into the saucepan as I wanted some leftovers.

Well today, I decided to use those leftover chickpeas to make a hummus, but not a plain one, I fancied a spicy one. So this is what I used.

Generous tsp ginger paste, 1p or thumb sized piece fresh
Tsp garlic paste, 1p
Tsp turmeric, Asda 45g/74p, 8p
Tsp garam masala, Asda 92g/£1.25, 5p
425g cooked chickpeas, 500g/£1, 125g dried 25p
Tsp salt
100ml olive oil, Asda Olivio £2/litre, 20p
Total cost 60p
Per 100g, 235 cals, 5g protein, 16g carbs, 17g fat, 4g fibre

As even a value hummus is around 35p/100g, this amount would cost £2.60 to buy in the shops, and of course, that would be for the usual plain variety. You wouldn’t be able to buy this flavour at all!

I used the same large jars of ginger and garlic as yesterday. They still smell just like the fresh stuff, so as it takes me quite a while to use a whole jar, I think I might decant most of them and keep them nice and fresh in the freezer. They still taste good after months of sitting in my fridge, but have lost some of their top notes.

To make the hummus, I simply put everything in the food processor and whizzed it for a couple of minutes until it was as smooth as it was going to go. I added a splash of water halfway through as it was looking too dry.

The finished hummus filled a large pot and small takeaway sauce pot, weighing in at a total 580g. It is utterly yummy and I’m looking forward to having some on toast for breakfast tomorrow.

The olive oil is worth using here as even with all the spices in it I could taste it. If you don’t want to use olive oil, any veg oil would be fine, it won’t make that much of a difference.

Having had a fiery hot Tom Yum at lunchtime, I didn’t fancy any more heat, but this mix is perfect for a bit of chilli. The funny thing is, I won’t even be eating it today as this is a 5:2 day

I am sitting here in the new kitchen talking to you and the coriander plant I bought yesterday is sitting looking back at me. The plants don’t last 5 minutes before collapsing into sliminess, so I’m going to chop a bit of that up very fine and stir it into my hummus. Yummy!

You can, of course, use any spices you like for this. Any ground spice or curry mixture that you like. You could use the lovely Pataks spice pastes, but they would need to have a little fry in a small pan first as they say not to eat them uncooked.

Another time I might try using all tandoori powder along with the garlic and ginger pastes; hot or smoky paprika with a little amchur powder for a sour hit; the Tom Yum paste I had at lunchtime would be delicious, only a tiny bit at a time tho, it’s HOT; a tiny bit of tamarind with garlic and ginger. Ooh, and how about some lovely dried coconut milk powder with it, bet that would be FAB! Or you could use some coconut milk from a tin to replace the splash of water.

I love a garlicky hummus sandwich with grated carrot for lunch. Raw grated swede and parsnip are also very nice and go well with hummus. Or them there are chunky bits of cucumber, summer ripe tomatoes or fresh crunchy lettuce leaves. And that’s just the sandwiches. How do you like to eat hummus?

Incidentally, if you are trying to reduce your fat intake, I have successfully made SW hummus without any oil in it at all, just water. It didn’t sound very appealing, but it actually tasted extremely good.