I was compelled to make this after I tried the amazing jalapeño hummus from the fabulous people at Hummus in Korea. We eat a truckload of hummus in our house, mainly because I always have lots left over from my batches that I sell. I’m always looking to make things a bit different, otherwise I would go insane eating the same hummus day after day as a work snack. I haven’t quite mastered this recipe as it’s not as lovely as the one made by the Hummus in Korea professionals but it added a nice kick that wasn’t too hot or spicy. I’d certainly urge you to give it a try if you are in the mood for something a little different.

Ingredients

Hummus

400g of Chickpeas (soaked weight)

10 slices of jalapeño (they come in a jar)

2-4 tablespoons of olive oil

1-2 tablespoons of cumin

1-2 lemons

1-2 teaspoons of salt

1 teaspoon of pepper pepper

Tahini

100ml of olive oil

3-5 cloves garlic

100g of sesame seeds

Directions

The first thing you need to do is soak your chickpeas. This can take between 6 hours to overnight. The longer the better in my opinion. After they have been soaked, you need to cook them. This can take a while. I usually cook mine in the rice cooker because you don’t have to top up the water as often and they won’t burn. If not you can cook them in a pan of water, they will take between 2-3 hours. Or you can skip this step and buy a can. When your chick peas are done, drain them but make sure you keep hold of that water, you will need it for the hummus.

The next step is to blend the chickpeas, you may need to do this in a couple of batches depending on the size of your blender. If they are too hard to blend, use a little of the hummus water to get things going. Some like their hummus chunky and rugged others like it smooth and silky, so blend until you get the consistency you’re happy with. If you want want an ultra silky hummus then peel off all of the skins of the chick peas before blending. It’s a pain in the ass so I never do it. Also my hummus is generally made in industrial style batches so it would probably take me a month to do it, plus I’m very lazy.

You can buy tahini in the foreign food mart in Itaewon and on iHerb and various other stores. It’s also very easy to make. Just place the garlic, sesame seeds, and olive oil in a blender and blend for a few minutes until the seeds have been pulverized.

Once the chick peas are blended, place in a large bowl and stir in the tahini and lemon juice. Then the salt, pepper, and cumin. Hummus is a very personal food, so start by adding a little of each at a time until you get a taste you’re happy with. A lot of factors can affect the taste of hummus so you rarely use the exact same amount of each ingredient every time. I always get the best results when the chick peas are warm.

To make the hummus jalapeño flavoured, blend your jalapeños with a little olive oil until you have a paste then stir it into the hummus. Use as much or as little as you need to suit your own tastes. Serve with your favourite dipping apparatus and enjoy. Voilà jalapeño flavoured hummus.

This is a just little something I whipped up last week to use up some avocados and fresh mozzarella I had neglected to use. Yes I know, how on earth could I forget that I possessed two such wonderful ingredients. I have no idea how it happened, I guess it was just a very busy week and I kept putting off using them so I could make something special. With the mozzarella I whipped up a fabulous capressa salad to make use of my lovely basil before it dies but I still had tonnes left. I figured i could make a gourmet grilled cheese and it was poetry on a plate. I will certainly be making these again after my next Costco run.

Makes 1 sandwich

Ingredients

2 slices of bread

1/2 an avocado

4 slices of tomato

4 slices of mozzarella

4 basil leaves

A knob of butter for frying

Directions

Mash the avocado and spread onto one half of the bread, Arrange the mozzarella on top and then add the basil leaves. Top with the tomatoes and another slice of bread. Melt a knob of butter in a frying pan on a low heat and place the sandwich on top. Cook for a couple of minutes until the bottom has browned and the cheese has started to melt. Flip the sandwich over and cook the other side, you may wish to add more butter. When the sandwich is done, remove and devour, whilst giving yourself props for making such a bitching sandwich.

I made this on Monday for dinner and my god was it good. We finished the whole thing in one sitting. Not great for the waistline, but it was too yummy to resist. I bought a kilo of mince beef at the butchers at the weekend and was wondering what to make. I thought I should try to make a few different things. I planned on making some spicy beef samosas, but when I took out my rather old samosa wrappers, they had seen far better days and I had to throw them away. For lack of a better idea I just made a giant batch of chili. We had some on top of homemade potato wedges and a little with rice. The rest went into the freezer. Then on Monday, inspiration struck, and I decided to try out Mexican lasagne. I took my chilli out of the freezer and warmed it back up, whipped up a quick cheese sauce, and bing bang boom, dinner was done in about 20 minutes. I will definitely be making this again very soon.

Ingredients

Chili 

350g of mince beef

1/2 a can of kidney beans

1/2 a can of black beans

1/2 can of corn

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

10 mushrooms

1 onion

4 cloves of garlic

6 tomatoes or 1 can of chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce

2-3 tablespoons of Mexican seasoning

1 teaspoon of chili powder

A small bunch of cilantro (고수)

Cheese sauce

25g of butter

25g of flour

400ml of milk (roughly)

Salt and pepper to taste

100g of cheddar cheese

Lasagne

4 large tortillas or 8 small

150g of grated cheese (i used a mix of mozzarella and cheddar)

Directions

Finely chop the onions and garlic and fry off in a little olive oil for a few minutes until softened. Then add the mince and fry until browned. Add the Worcestershire sauce and Mexican seasoning and stir. Chop the peppers and mushroom and add to the mince along with the tomatoes. Mix together, if it is a little dry add a cup of water or tomato juice. Cook for another 5- 10 minutes then add the beans and corn. Taste the chili then add in the cilantro and chili powder to taste.When the chili is done remove from the heat.

To make the cheese sauce melt the butter on a low heat in a saucepan, then add the flour. Mix together to make a paste, then add the milk. Whisk the sauce to dispel the lumps then keep stirring. After a few minutes the sauce will thicken, if it’s too thick add a little more milk. If it’s too thin add in a teaspoon of butter and a teaspoon of flour. As long as you add fat with your flour, the sauce will never be lumpy. Once the sauce has thickened add the cheese and stir until it has melted. Depending on what I am making I also like to crumble in a little chicken stock cube or mustard to give a little extra flavour.

To assemble the Mexican lasagne trim the sides off the tortillas to make them squarer, unless you are using a round dish of course. Place a tortilla in your dish then cover with a third of the chili, then place another tortilla and top with the second third of chili. Add  another tortilla then top with the final third of chili and finish with a tortilla. Use the trimmed pieces to fill in any gaps, then top with the cheese sauce and grated cheese. You can also sprinkle on a little extra cilantro on the top if you have some. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes to let the cheese melt. When it’s ready remove from the oven and leave for about 10 minutes or as long as you can wait for it to set a little. If you want to have beautiful slices then it needs to cool. Never one to have any patience I was not particularly good at this so my pictures are less than perfect, but you get the idea. Voilà Mexican Lasagne!

Every time I seem to watch TV, the characters always seem to be eating Huevos Rancheros. By the time I got to the third time I couldn’t stop thinking about it, so I decided to whip myself up a batch. We like to vary our brunches, especially if we aren’t going out to a restaurant. It’s a nice change from the usual weekend brunch or even as a quick and easy dinner. Perfect for the summer time.

Ingredients

2 eggs

2 tortillas (I used the 6 inch ones)

1/2 a can of black beans

3 tablespoons of salsa

1 tablespoon of sour cream

1/2 an avocado

A few sprigs of cilantro

1 teaspoon of Mexican seasoning

Directions

The first step is to blend the black beans with 1 teaspoon of Mexican seasoning. You can just do this with the back of a fork if you don’t have a blender. Once the paste is formed warm it up in the microwave or a saucepan. Warm the tortillas, while you fry the eggs. chop the avocado. Put the tortilla on a plate, top with the black bean paste. Then top with the fried egg then arrange the salsa, sour cream and avocado as you like and sprinkle with cilantro. Voilà Huevos Rancheros.

Ah hummus, there is nothing like a big tub with pita bread or chips while watching a movie. Sadly too many people in Korea, are living a life without hummus. I can’t bear to think about the suffering that some of you have to bear, constantly longing for this delicious yet healthy dip. For those living in and around Itaewon, finding hummus is no problem at all. You can even buy my hummus if you are lucky enough to live in Hae Bang Chon. But what about everyone else? You can make your own of course, check out my recipes here or here. But for some, all that soaking and blending is just too much hard work. You shouldn’t  be deprived  of all that chickpea goodness just because your lazy. Don’t worry salvation is here in the form of Hummus In Korea.

Hummus in Korea, delivers hummus directly to your door. Luckily for us delivery companies are setting up all the time, bringing us more and more of the foods  that we miss from home. So now you can have your hummus delivered, and eat it too. So it was about time I got to try some of this fabulous hummus. Coming in 6 delicious flavours (garlic, red pepper, olive, egg plant, jalapeno and spicy),  there is something for everyone. Prices vary between 5,550 – 7,000. You can buy packs of 4 (24,000) to save money or just choose your favourites.

I’m not going to lie, I tried five. After all, fat girls don’t get fat by just choosing one flavour. They were all good, but here are my favourite 3.

My top spot is a close call but I would have to give it to the roasted red pepper. A glorious orange colour and delicious taste of roasted red peppers throughout. Couldn’t get enough of this one. It was just as tasty as I hoped it would be.

Second place was surprisingly jalapeno heaven. It was the one I was least looking forward to, and thought I could just palm it off on my boyfriend. However after one fingerful, I knew he wouldn’t be getting any. It had the essence and flavour of jalapeno without being too hot or spicy. It was perfectly mild and delicious. In fact I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this one since and will have to try having a go at making my own. Be sure to add this one to your order.

My third favourite was probably the crazy for garlic. The regular hummus we all know and love with extra garlic. It was well balanced and the garlic was not at all over bearing, like some can be.

To make things even better for you, hummus in Korea sell pita bread too. Sold in packs of 1 for 1,500 or 3 for 4,000 don’t forget to add a few to your order.

Fat girl I hear you cry, how can we get our hands on this wondrous hummus? Well here’s how. Click here to get to the website, fill out the form and click place order. Do a simple bank transfer to pay and sit back and relax while you wait for your delicious delivery. Delivery costs 4,500 and they deliver  Tuesday- Friday and it generally takes between 24-48 hours. Pretty cool right. Visit the website for more details and to place orders.

I am such a  lucky girl, because I have very lovely friends. Sometimes those very lovely friends even bring me food. My wonderful friend Alex has been applying to go on Korean Master Chef and he got through to the round where you need to take a dish to the selection panel. He decided upon some parmesan gnocchi. Luckily for me he made a giant bowl full of gnocchi and only needed a small amount, so he gave me all the left overs. I whipped up this little dish with what was left. I’m not sure if mine was up to the Master Chef standard but it was lovely fresh and tasty, the perfect light lunch now that spring is finally here.

Ingredients

Gnocchi