While mindlessly scrolling through the digital equivalent of 500 tonnes worth of cat memes on Instagram, something stood out: a green chilli sauce. Usually, I'd slow clap the vibrant hue of green, give it a nod of approval and move on. But when I saw the word tahini in the ingredients let's just say my interest was piqued. 

I absolutely love tahini and anything that it's in. I'm talking fan girl territory, a sweet ode to my Cypriot heritage with hummus being the obvious contender for most loved tahini recipe - until now. This sauce is capital letters LEGIT and I have been putting it on everything from steak to chicken, to mixing it into salad dressings and using it to add an extra dimension to the usual egg and avo combo. If you follow me on Instagram and have ever felt compelled enough to watch my stories, you may have noticed my new found obsession for this sauce because I have been preaching hard. 

The recipe comes from my all time favourite bon appétit and is another example of why they are IMO the best food magazine out there - they deliver the goods time and time again (and can we take a moment to applaud them for likening this sauce to the summer sandals you wear with everything? So true.). But of course it wouldn't be like me to ever really follow a recipe to the T, so my take on this punchy little number uses some garlic scapes I picked up from the market along with a single clove of garlic, a little less lemon and a touch more heat from an additional serrano pepper. I promise if you try this you will be just as obsessed as me. 

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HOT GREEN TAHINI SAUCE

Makes 2 cups, lightly adapted from here

Ingredients

2 lemons (zest of one, juice of 1.5)

3 serrano peppers 

1 garlic clove

2 garlic scapes, chopped (or just use an additional garlic clove)

3 cups curly leaf parsley, roughly chopped (discard stalks)

60ml extra virgin olive oil

120g tahini paste

Salt

Method

1. In a blender, grate in the zest of a lemon and add the juice of 1.5 lemons, discarding any pips.
2. Add the garlic, garlic scapes, serrano peppers, parsley, olive oil and roughly 75ml water and blend until you have a smooth sauce.
3. Transfer the sauce to a bowl and stir in the tahini paste - season with salt to taste.
4. That's it! Keep refrigerated in an airtight container. 

I think this tastes better the next day, when the tahini has thickened the sauce and the flavours have developed and settled. Keeps well for a week. Maybe longer but I wouldn't know because I eat it too quickly. 

Baba ghanouj, with its distinct smoky flavour and creamy texture, is up there with the best of Middle Eastern food in my book. Along with  hummus it holds a certain nostalgia for me, forever being on the table alongside fresh saj and soujouk when we'd sit down to eat with family in Cyprus. We'd usually keep a tub of it on hand back at home in London, but up until recently I hadn't really tried making it myself. 

This was in part due to the fact I didn't have a gas range at home, and also because the purist in me remains stubborn on charring the aubergines instead of the simpler (and cleaner) process of baking them, but once I moved into my flat last year, equipped with a gas range cooker, I couldn't resist trying it out.  

There is a fair amount of debate concerning what makes the 'perfect' baba ghanouj, and writer Felicity Cloake tackles this quite well in her column for The Guardian. Like Felicity, I like researching and testing different takes on a recipe to get the perfect version, and among other resources I used her article as an aid in my quest for the ultimate creamy, smoky and garlicky dip. 

Personally I like enough lemon to taste but not enough to make the flavour obviously citrusy, a hint of garlic (1 clove per every two aubergines), and the essential ingredient, tahini - although just a little otherwise you'll end up with something more akin to hummus. The below recipe is what I consider to be the perfect baba ghanouj, and now that I've found the right balance the only thing likely to change when I make it is whether I garnish it with chopped mint or not. 

Don't let the process of charring it put you off, likewise if you don't have a gas hob don't let that deter you either as you can still make delicious baba ghanouj without this process. What I find is most important is creating the right balance of flavours according to your own personal taste - although I think you might quite like the recipe below nevertheless. 

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Baba Ghanouj

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 medium aubergines

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tablespoons tahini paste

Juice of half a lemon

Pinch of salt

Olive oil and pomegranate seeds to serve

Method

1. Burn the aubergines using a gas cooker. Sit the aubergines on top of a low-medium flame, turning often. Cook until they are practically caving in on themselves. If you don't have a gas hob, prick and bake the aubergines whole in an oven set to 180°c (160°c FAN) for 30-40 minutes. 
2. Leave the cooked aubergines to cool slightly before peeling away the skin. Place the flesh into a fine mesh sieve and leave to slowly drain for 20 minutes. 
3. After draining, break the flesh up gently with a fork - I like to keep mine quite chunky but you can mash it up as much or as little as you like. 
4. Stir in the minced garlic, tahini and salt. Add the lemon juice and taste - adjust with more tahini/lemon/salt as needed. 
5. Serve with olive oil and pomegranate seeds. 

Hello!

It has been some time, hasn’t it? But now I’m back and I can finally wish you a Happy New Year! I hope the first two weeks of 2015 have been wonderful to you.

I don’t usually set myself resolutions for the new year, but last year I inadvertently gave up smoking, and I can happily say it’s been a total blast breathing much more easily over the last 379 days. This year however, I made a conscious decision to add a few life goals to my list this year:

• I will eat well, consistently and be as eco-friendly as possible
• I will listen more and talk about myself less
• I will appreciate what I have right now instead of yearning for what I could have

and;

• I will make this miso-tahini soup once a week for the rest of my life AMEN

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Ginger Miso Tahini Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients

500g medium squash, either butternut or coquina, cut into smallish pieces

1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil

Juice of half a navel orange

3 tablespoons miso paste

50g tahini

1 inch of ginger, peeled and minced

300-400g cooked brown rice

2 ripe avocados

Black sesame seeds

Method

1. Arrange the squash pieces on a baking tray and drizzle with 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil and the juice of half an orange. Roast in the centre of the oven at 220°c (200°c Fan) for 45 minutes.
2. Add the miso paste to a bowl and add a couple of tablespoons of boiled water to loosen. In a large saucepan add the tahini, minced ginger and 500ml water and bring to the boil. Add the miso paste and reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes. Season to taste.
3. To serve, distribute the brown rice evenly into four bowls and top with roasted squash. Pour over the miso-tahini broth, top with half a sliced avocado and sprinkle with black sesame seeds.

Hummus is something I can’t remember trying for the first time because I’ve never known life without it, and I don’t think there will ever be a day where I’d turn down a dip into its creamy chickpea waters. Aside from one brand available in supermarkets, the tubbed variety is really just… not hummus. Real hummus, in all its homemade glory, is fresh and nutty, spiked with lemon and a touch of garlic and should be somewhat airy and delectably smooth. Best served at room temperature, drizzled in good quality olive oil and a dash of sumac. Sharing with friends, optional.

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Hummus

Makes 500g

Recipe adapted from Ottolenghi/Samimi’s Basic Hummus recipe in their gorgeous cookbook, Jerusalem

Ingredients

250g dry chickpeas (equates to roughly 500g when cooked and skins removed)

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1.5 litres water

3 garlic cloves

170g light tahini

Juice of 1 lemon

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Sumac, olive oil, toasted pine nuts* (to serve)

Method

1. Soak the dry chickpeas overnight in double the amount of water.

2. The next day drain the chickpeas and cook in a saucepan on a high heat with the bicarbonate of soda for a few minutes before adding the water. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until the chickpeas are tender.

3. Once cooled enough to handle, pop the chickpeas out of the skins using your thumbs, index and middle finger. It’s therapeutic, trust me.

4. Add the chickpeas to a food processor with the garlic and salt and pulse until crumb-like. Add the lemon juice and tahini and blitz until smooth. Next, keep the blender running and pour in about 100-120ml of cold water and blend for a few minutes until you have what is pretty much the most delicious hummus around. Leave to rest for 20-30 minutes before serving, otherwise keep refrigerated until needed.

5. To serve, spread lovingly on a plate, adorn with a drizzle of olive oil, a dusting of sumac and a few toasted pine nuts.

6. Serve at room temperature.

*Spread the pine nuts on a baking sheet and blast at full temp for 3-5 minutes.