Hummus (V)

Ah Hummus. Delicious to eat, and even more fun to say… huuuuuuumaaaaaaahhhhhsss … whooooooomaaaaaassss

Okay I’ll stop saying houmous weirdly…for now.

So you may have already guessed, but yes, this is indeed the blog post you have all been waiting for, one which is ultimately and entirely dedicated to hummus. I know you’re all as excited as I am! This delicious dip is of Egyptian origin, with it’s name being the Arabic word for chickpeas, which seems quite fitting considering the two base ingredients are tahini and chickpeas.

Chickpeas barley needs any introduction, as these little legumes are notorious for packing a serious protein punch. Of Middle Eastern decent, chickpeas are one of the best foods you can eat, as not only are they an excellent source of essential nutrients like iron, folate, phosphorus, fibre and many other confusing names that sound impressive... But they are also low in fat and taste great!

While we all recognize Hummus as the bowl of creamy stuff that accompanies the sad selection of carrot and celery sticks that some poor kid was forced to take to a shared lunch, there are an extraordinarily large number of ways to spruce up this seemingly bland spread. By simply adding roasted garlic, sundried tomato, grilled eggplant, paprika or cumin it becomes a taste sensation… and yes I did just use the phrase taste sensation. Make your hummus adventures even more delectable by thinking outside the box and adding it to other meals such as salads, falafel, corn chips or as a spread for sandwiches and wraps.

Hummus + Sundried tomatoes = Love

While hummus is a food that isn’t too common around NZ, it is one of those sneaky foods that is always store bought, with people never realizing how quick, cheap and satisfying it is to make your own! One day when I was faced with 7 unused cans of chickpeas (as one usually is) it became obvious after a few google searches that making hummus was the way to go. I was pleasantly surprised when I realized that I could also use up this suspicious jar of ‘tahini’ that had been kicking around, and only then needed lemon, cumin and paprika to make up the recipe.

With its exotic name and expensive supermarket price I was expecting some long laborious process involving mortars, pestles and some rare foreign African spice plant in order to get my hummus, almost skeptical when I read that the recipes usually consisted of 1) Add chickpeas, tahini and cumin to blender 2) Blend till smooth. 
But sometimes life really is that simple.

Basic hummus recipe

Serves 6-8 as a starter

• 2 x 400g cans of chickpeas (reserve the liquid and a few chickpeas for decoration)
• 4 tsp tahini
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp crushed sea salt
• 6 tbsp quality extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)
• 3½ tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
• Paprika (optional)
• Coriander or parsley leaves (optional)

Rinse the chickpeas in cold water and tip into the food processor. Add the tahini, crushed garlic, salt, lemon juice and seven tablespoons of the reserved liquid from the cans. Turn on the food processor and slowly pour in the oil while it runs.

When the mixture is fully combined and smooth, tip it into a serving dish. Drizzle with some more extra virgin olive oil and decorate with a few whole chickpeas.

Best Ugly Bagels + Camper Coffee

Best Ugly Bagels. I’ve sat here for 10 minutes now wondering how to describe this wonderful little nugget of bagel heaven nestled into 3A York St, Newmarket. But this isn’t their first location, as after experiencing wild success at Wellesley St, they looked to set up shop outside of the city centre before finding a beautiful little spot in Newmarket. After having been to both, I’m pleased to say that for me the Newmarket location is most definitely better, with significantly larger space, cushioned outside seating and smiley enthusiastic staff.

 Brainchild of Al Brown, Best Ugly bagels came into existence a short time after Brown briefly lived in Montreal, Canada. It was there that he took a bite of his first Montreal Bagel made by a Polish Jewish community and fell in love with their adaptation of the traditional New York bagel. Individually hand-rolled and simmered in honey-sweetened water before being baked in a wood fired oven, these bagels are undoubtedly some of the best in Auckland. Amy and I split the TAB (tomato Avo and basil) while the boys both had a YODI with Pastrami, Swiss cheese, Habanero mustard and pickle.  

 And of course bagels just demand to be eaten with coffee, so it was just 10 meters across from Best Ugly’s where I indulged in the best coffee I have ever had. Camper Coffee has a hole in the wall shop just down from best ugly bagels and serves the notoriously famous and very exclusive 'camper' coffee beans. You see, coffee and I have had a bit of an odd relationship as I’d usually order a flat white or latte only to get 2 sips in and wonder why I order a drink I don’t really love. So believe me when I tell you not to go to Camper Coffee on 2 Kent Street. No seriously, I mean it, don’t go unless you are totally happy for ‘regular’ café coffee to forever be unsatisfyingly average. Smooth, subtly nutty and rich, this coffee will bring even the most cynical tea drinkers to the caffeinated dark side. 

Pair that with a freshly baked peanut butter jam bagel from Best Ugly’s and you have yourself a damn good start to any day.

Beetroot and Buckwheat Salad

So when sitting at La Cigale French Markets with my sister, enjoying a piece of Raw Cheesecake we watched lines of nike-clad youths weave their way through carts of fresh produce, eyeing up the cheap organic vegetables and fruit on offer and realized how awesome that was. That in this generation the ‘cool’ thing to do is to eat fresh, healthy foods and care about how you fuel your body. That practicing yoga, running a marathon or enjoying sunrise walks was the new trend. As a young generation we often get a traditional bad wrap from society as selfish, tech consumed street-youths who are up to no good, but no one can deny that the awareness and care about our health, fitness and use of our earth is vastly improving. So yes, we do listen to music too loud and probably yell a lot in public (especially if we catch sight of a friend) and are generally super annoying to any adults, but I can definitely say that I feel like our future is in the strongest, most sustainably aware hands yet. Which is pretty darn exciting.

Okay so enough about my rant of how important healthy eating is in this generation, and lets get into this buckwheat salad. Often mistaken for wheat due to its deceptive name, this food is in fact fruit seed with a number of health benefits, hence its newfound popularity. Its one of the best sources of high-quality, easily digestible proteins making it an excellent meat substitute as well as being gluten free and pretty easy to cook up (yay). 

Buckwheat, beetroot & feta salad 

Ingredients

•                3-4 fresh beetroots (or a small packet of salad beetroot)

•                100g roasted buckwheat

•                50g feta cheese

•                5-6 Florets of Steamed broccoli/cauliflower

For the dressing

•                2 tbsps olive oil

•                2 tbsps lemon juice

•                sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method     

If you are using fresh beetroots, top and tail them and put them into a pan of boiling water. Cover and cook for one hour until tender, then cool and gently peel away the skin. Use gloves if you don’t want to stain your fingers.

In a separate pan, cook the buckwheat according to the packet instructions. Usually, this means rinsing the buckwheat and placing it into a pan, then bringing the water to a steady boil and cooking for fifteen minutes until tender. Drain and rinse well with cold water.

To make the dressing, mix two tablespoons of olive oil with two tablespoons lemon juice, and a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour it over the buckwheat and stir until well coated.

Next, scatter the buckwheat onto a large plate. Chop the cooked beetroot and scatter over the top. Crumble the feta cheese using your fingers and scatter over the buckwheat and beetroot.

Chocolate Fudge Thickshake (V)

So it's all fun and games on the blog most of the time, but today things are gonna get serious for a moment and I’m going to be honest… I never ate fruit until I was 16 years old! *Collective gasp from the audience, with many fainting from shock*

I know that may not seem particularly insane, but just think about it for a second, really let that sink in. A childhood without any fruit No juicy watermelons, pears, oranges or mandarins. No vibrant purple plums, sour lemons, grapes or sweet dates. But most importantly, 16 years with no bananas or avocado. Although I’m yet to make peace with any type of berry (which still disgust me), eating more than one type of fruit is still relatively new and exciting for me with the introduction of both the banana and avocado being nothing short of life changing.

Now you may be thinking, ohmygod as a result of her many many many hours of productive exam study (ha), Sarah has lost what little sanity she had left, because an avocado is most definitely a vegetable. Poor thing. Well if that was what you thought then it looks like I’m not the only one who is going to be learning a thing or two today, because like the sneaky tomato, the avocado is actually scientifically considered a fruit!

So in celebration of my new-ish found appreciation for most things fruity I decided to share with you my super-weird but actually amazingly delicious recipe for a chocolate Avocado Thick shake! This recipe is a bit of an estimate of what I use because I’m hardcore and I don’t follow a recipe… also because I usually never have all of the ingredients…

And I don’t know about you, but nothing annoys me more than when someone tries to convince me that a couple of nuts can curb any chocolate craving. Usually because I’ll attempt to do just that, and end up eating 4kg o salted peanuts nuts while still starting longingly at the 1 square of milk chocolate that I originally wanted (which I will then still eat 10 minutes later). So when I feel like chocolate, this thickshake is my number 1 go to, as the kale and avocado will keep you feeling healthy and full for hours while the cacao powder adds a rich chocolate flavor to satisfy the strongest of sweet-tooth’s.

Chocolate Avocado Smoothie (Vegan) – Makes 1 large glass

- 1 frozen banana (Cut the banana into slices before freezing for easier blending)

- ½ Ripe Banana (the riper the banana, the sweeter the smoothie)

- 3 ice-cubes

- ¼ Avocado

- 2 T Cacao Powder

- 1 ½  C Water/Coconut Water/ Soy Milk (Depends on your taste/richness preferences)

- 2 stems Kale (optional) 

          1.   Add bananas, ice-cubes, kale, cacao powder and avocado into blender

          2.   Add ½ C of liquid into the blender, steadily add more until it is your preferred consistency  

         3.   Blend on high until the thickshake is totally smooth. I have an industrial blender and will usually leave it on high for at least 1 minute to ensure that the kale is totally incorporated. If it is gritty/leafy then you have not blended it long enough or on a high enough setting!  

        4.   Store in fridge until ready to drink (best consumed within a few hours of making)

      Happy Monday Everyone :)

 Happy Monday Everyone :)

Cafe Adventures; Luke's Kitchen

If you’ve spent anytime around the Coromandel coast of New Zealand (and if you haven’t you really are missing out) then you most probably have heard of Luke’s Kitchen. But considering I have spent every summer at Whangapoua since the age of 5, it’s a wonder that it was only a year ago I discovered this infamous pizza shack just 30mins drive away in the little village of Kuaotunu.

Starting from a small casual pizza restaurant run by a bloke called Luke, it quickly gained a stellar reputation, with crows of sunburned surfers and starving beach goers lining up for a coveted surfboard table or driftwood bench.

The menu is simple, light, and utterly delicious with a pick of 5 different pizzas that are a far cry from the old Hawaiian, meat-lovers, vegetarian you’d expect to find. Instead prepare to be wooed by a selection of pizzas like the Pacific Chix, a wood-fired crust topped with coconut marinated chicken, zucchini, onion, preserved lime and coriander. Or my personal favorite, the BlackJack, with toppings like ham, pepperoni, mushrooms, olives, capsicum and red onion.

 While their pizzas are most definitely the main event at Luke’s kitchen that’s not to say they don’t offer some of the most delicious salads, fresh seafood and chips. In particular I’m talking about their kumara chips. Now I’ve tried a lot of different sweet potato fries in my time, but none yet have been able to compare in the slightest with those served in this little beach town. Crunchy, salty, sweet, it's worth the 3-hour drive from Auckland alone.

With piping hot pizzas being shoveled from the open wood-fire oven to hungrily waiting tables faster than you can open your ice cold beer, it’s sure to become a solid favorite with any who visit.

Cafe Adventures; BurgerBurger

Another weekend, another new restaurant to try out and today’s review is of the new Ponsonby institutions, the infamous BurgerBurger.

In the last year there seems to be a lot of new burger joints around (no complaints here) so you will understand how seriously good this place is when I say that it may possibly serve the best burgers I have yet to enjoy, elbowing aside competitors such as Better Burger, Pinky’s and Burgerfuel.

You see the mark of a great burger is complex, with a number of different elements all having to be of the highest standard to ensure tasty success. You’ve got your freshly baked soft brioche bun slathered in good ol’ tomato sauce and mustard, a thick patty of tender succulent beef, a touch of crunchy salad and the traditional slice of salty pickle to seal the deal. Add a side of their mind-blowing potato skins and you have yourself a damn good Friday evening.

Side Note: If you manage to endure the 10 minutes to find a park and 60minute wait for a table and still have the nerve to disrepect this establishment by ordering their bunless lettuce leaf burger in an attempt to ‘cut calories’ or maintain some diet plan, I will judge you. Don’t be that person with the lettuce leaf ‘burger’. You don’t want to be that person.

So stop salivating at your computer screen and get your ass to BurgerBurger.