Nandos have long been lovers of spicing it up, whether that be in the form of their extra hot chickens, their PERi-PERi sauces or their affiliation with noted spice-brings Peking Duk. They are back at it again, and this time, they’ve dropped a healthy as hell hummus. You can head on down to your local Woolies to pick up a tub or ten of the PERi-PERi Hummus Dip in Medium and Hot varieties. It’s your classic hummus with a splash of famous nandos sauce on the top, so you can dip in and get your desired kick. It’s gluten-free too, so even your fussy mate Ashli can join in.
Hummus is a magical, magical foodstuff.
Derived from the humble chickpea and tszujed with tahini, olive oil, lemon, garlic and salt, the mighty cream has been adored for thousands of years, originating in the Middle East. Folks love it because it’s simple, tasty and above all else, healthy.
While it’s choice to use hummus as a dip to lather your celery and carrots sticks into, the real beauty of hummus is its versatility.
You can use it as a spread in sangas. You can incorporate it into your egg dishes. Heck, in Date Movie, Julia Jones even uses it on her pimples.
While the opportunities to add hummus to your everyday life are truly endless, here are our 7 favourite dishes that, in the words of ya boy George Calombaris, “hero” hummus.
NOTE: before going all Julia Child in the kitchen, be sure to mix your hummus before cooking with it if it’s in dip-form as the sauce often sits on top.
1. Hummus Crusted Chicken
Provided you aren’t vegetarian, you’ll know that chicken is damn delicious. It’s packed full of protein, meaning it keeps you fuller for longer. What could be even better? Gimme Some Oven‘s ‘Hummus-Crusted Chicken’.
Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 zucchini, chopped
1 yellow squash, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup PERi-PERi Medium Hummus Dip
1 tbsp olive oil
2 lemons
1 tsp smoked paprika or sumac
Method:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Prepare one large baking dish or two smaller baking dishes with cooking spray.
Pat the chicken dry. Season the chicken breasts with generous pinches of salt and pepper. In a large bowl, toss the zucchini, squash and onion with olive oil until evenly coated. Season with salt and pepper.
If using one baking dish, place all of the vegetables on the bottom of the dish in an even layer. Lay the four chicken breasts evenly on top, then cover each chicken breast with the hummus so that the entire breast is covered. Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the chicken and vegetables. Then sprinkle the pan with smoked paprika or sumac. Thinly slice the remaining lemon, and place the slices in between the chicken and vegetables if desired.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. Serve immediately.
2. Hummus-Style Alfredo Pasta Sauce
I know it’s tempting to keep one in your cupboard, but throw out that packet-pasta, powdered Alfredo mix. While it is pretty tasty, it’s packed-full of nasty preservatives and will probably leave you feeling greatly unclean. Instead, give The Diva Dish‘s ‘5 Minute Creamy Hummus Pasta Sauce’ a crack:
Ingredients:
½ cup PERi-PERi Medium Hummus Dip
1 tbsp melted coconut oil
¼ tsp garlic salt
¼ tsp onion powder
3 tbsp low-fat milk
1 tbsp greek yogurt
Salt, pepper, spice-such as paprika, basil, oregano, etc to taste
Cooked pasta (or veggies if you’re feeling entirely healthy)
Method:
Heat the ingredients all together and chuck over some cooked pasta. It’ll take 5 minutes, tops. Easy.
3. Hummus Scrambled Eggs
Eggs, like their birth giver chicken, are packed full of protein. Adding hummus further increases the flavour of the eggs and bumps up the protein even more.
This is a large batch recipe, meaning you can make it for you, your honey and a tonne of friends after a big night out.
Ingredients:
12 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp cooking oil
1/2 cup PERi-PERi Medium Hummus Dip
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
Method:
Whisk eggs or beat eggs with mixer just until blended. Whisk or beat in milk.
In a large skillet or an electric frying pan, heat oil over medium heat. Pour in egg mixture. As eggs begin to set, gently move spatula across bottom and side of skillet to form large, soft curds. When eggs are partially set, stir in hummus, and parsley, if using. Cook until eggs are thickened and no visible liquid eggs remains.
4. Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Burgers with Caramelised Onions and Smokey Mayo
While dipping ya veggies into hummus is a sure-fire hit, sometimes you want to really take it out of your comfort zone and try something new.
Iowa Girl Eats‘ ‘Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Burgers with Caramelised Onions and Smokey Mayo’ is one of those rogue additions.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large brown onion
500g lean ground beef
1/2 cup PERi-PERi Hot Hummus Dip
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp panko bread crumbs
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 burger buns
Baby spinach and tomato slices to fill burgers
For the Smokey Mayo:
5 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp smoked paprika
Salt, to taste
Method:
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat then add onions and a dash of salt. Cook, stirring every so often until onions reach a caramel brown colour, 25-30 minutes. Set aside.
Combine ingredients for the Smokey Mayo in a bowl then stir to combine and set aside in the fridge.
Add ground beef, hummus, panko bread crumbs, salt, and pepper in a large bowl then combine with your hands and form mixture into 4 patties.
Grill over medium-high heat on one side until a crust forms, 3-4 minutes, then flip and grill for 3-4 minutes on the other side. Place burgers onto buns then add caramelised onions, Smokey Mayo, and additional toppings.
5. Hummus Mashed Potatoes
Gimme Some Oven makes a second appearance on our list, probably because she loved hummus us much as we do. Her recipe, ‘Hummus Mashed Potatoes’ is as easy to make as it sounds, but will surely elevate your bangers and mash situation to new heights.
Ingredients:
1 & 1/2 kgs potatoes
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk, warmed
2 cups PERi-PERi Medium Hummus Dip
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly-cracked black pepper
optional garnish: chopped fresh Italian parsley, lemon wedges, extra drizzle of olive oil
Method:
Peel the potatoes if you would like, and cut them into large chunks, roughly the same size. Immediately add to a large stockpot and fill with water until the potatoes are covered. Bring to a boil over high heat. Then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until a fork will go gently through the potatoes. Remove from heat and drain the water.
Then return pot to the burner and use a potato masher to mash the potatoes until smooth. Then turn off heat, and add in butter, warmed milk, hummus salt and pepper. Stir until combined. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed. And if you want creamier mashed potatoes, feel free to add in more warmed milk until they reach your desired consistency.
Serve warm, topped with optional garnishes if desired.
6. Greek Hummus Pizza
As the author of this recipe, The Roasted Root, attests, ‘Greek Hummus Pizza’ is genius because you replace pizza sauce with hummus, meaning you get a creamy, delicious flavour with zero effort.
Ingredients:
Store-bought pizza dough
1 container of PERi-PERi Hot Hummus Dip
Handful baby spinach
¼ cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
1 roasted red bell pepper, sliced
2 tbsp pine nuts
Method:
Preheat the oven to 220 degrees. Sprinkle flour onto a baking sheet. Roll out your prepared pizza dough, and place it on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 22 to 35 minutes, or until the crust is golden-brown on the edges and reaches desired crisp.
Allow crust to cool, then add desired amount of hummus, baby spinach, kalamata olives, pine nuts, and roasted red bell pepper.
Serve large slices and enjoy!
7. Hummus with… you guessed it, Nando’s chips
Let’s be honest, some days you just cannot be bothered cooking anything. In that case, you can pick up a bag or two of the Nando’s chippies and use them as a vessel to transport the dip straight into your mouth hole.
this bad boy’s avail at Woolies now
Photo: The Hummus Club.
