My mother has always told me about how the doctor who attended my birth said he had never seen a family so happy to have a baby girl- after all, in Palestine boys are highly prized and all respectable families have at least a few! Rumour has it that my father jumped so high that his head touched the ceiling, and I like to think that is true. ‘I really didn’t think I could have girls you see’, my mother confided in me as we tucked into this dish one lunch time as my new born son slept next to us in the mosses basket. After her two boys and a few miscarriages, my mother felt like she was simply a mother of boys. Strangely, I have secretly felt the same in the last two months since Rupert was born. Even though I had always had my heart set on having two boys, I do wonder if the baby I lost last year was a girl and I do hope that I will one day have one. Just like my Mama and maybe Christopher will jump high enough to touch the ceiling too.
I didn’t actually love fattet hummus growing up. It wasn’t until I was in Jordan one summer in my early 20s living with a friend and researching my Masters dissertation on the Oslo Accords that I really fell in love with it. My friends and I used to order it for breakfast and eat it in the sunny garden. The crispy bread, cooling yoghurt and fresh herbs was just a perfect combination- completely addictive. And once my breastfeeding cravings for comfort and heartiness kicked in with Otis, it’s all I wanted to eat. I even made it for my other NCT mom friends to share the tastiness.
ingedients
150ml Tahini
1 large pot Greek yoghurt
1 tub of hummus
1 can of chickpeas
Three garlic cloves, crushed
Juice from 1 lemon
¾ pita breads cut into diamonds or squares
Handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
Handful of fresh mint
Handful of pomegranate seeds
Handful of pine nuts and almonds, toasted
Extra virgin olive oil
method
Toss the diamond shaped pita bread in olive oil and toast in the oven on 190C for 10-15 mins until golden and crispy
While the bread toasts, combine the hummus, yoghurt, tahini, garlic and lemon juice
Warm the chickpeas (with their juice) in a saucepan and then mix the chickpeas and small amount of the juice with the toasted pita bread in a serving dish
Pour over the hummus/yoghurt/tahini mixture
Decorate the fattet hummus with the herbs, toasted nuts, pomegranates and any remaining chickpeas any way you like. Have fun with this bit.
Tip: assemble this dish just before serving as you want the bread to still be crispy and the chickpeas warm when you eat it.
The Olive Tree Kitchen 