Two weeks ago I had the privilege of visiting Budapest, Hungary for some R&R (Research and Relaxation). The city is an amazing place, and if you ever find yourself in East Europe with a schengen visa and some time to kill. I would definitely suggest visiting this amazing place. One of the things which me and another student from SA working with me discovered, was a take away place called Hummus Bar. The concept was simple. Pick a filling, order some beer (hence the bar in the name we figured) and prepare your taste buds for something special. You receive some empty pitas, your filling, and so much hummus its unhealthy (and hummus is a pretty healthy food stuff). All this for the price of a Big Mac McMeal.
The beer was a local Czech brew called kozöl, which is slightly better than pilsner urquell (another fine beer) and complimented the meal very well. In fact, of all the numerous bars we visited, this place was the only one which had stock of kozöl.
We were so happy with the meal, that this was the one place we went to twice for supper during our 10 night stay in Budapest, and believe me, food is something the Hungarians are very good at. I have heard that hummus is quite easy to make, so I googled a recipe for this amazing Mediterranean treat, and found this:
You will need:
500 gr canned chickpeas
45-75 ml lemon juice (squeezed or bottled), to taste
2 cloves of crushed garlic (or equivalent amount of already crushed garlic)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
30 ml olive oil
Preparation:
Drain the liquid from the chickpeas, and keep it aside. combine all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of the liquid from the canned chickpeas to this. Then blend it for 3-5 minutes until it is smooth and creamy.
Place in a bowl and serve as a dip for pita or whatever really. You can zing this up with some diced chilli, or some peri-peri sauce (or paprika for a Hungarian flavour). Chickpeas are a great source or protein, zinc and dietry fiber. They are also low in fat (and the fat which is there is poly-unsaturated). Also great for people with diabetes as there are some good carbs in there. Healthy and really good!
Enjoy!
