Curry Houmous

 Sous Chef J likes to eat finger food and dips are a particular favourite of his.  Up until now, we've had a bit of a stand off in relation to the tastiness (or otherwise in his opinion) of houmous.  However, bearing in mind that he likes all things yellow and mango chutney is good, we hit upon the idea of making a curry-style houmous dip.

We gathered the meagre ingredients - ready made houmous (we do make our own but this was for a speedy lunchtime 'solution'), a tablespoon of curry powder and a dollop of mango chutney.

The ingredients were combined and mixed well.  

Finally, the dip was served with tortilla chips... although we have used mini poppadums as dippers which work well too.

We now make it in larger amounts, then halve the batch and store one lot in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two days.

Give it a try and let us know what you think!

Chicken Zorba

This recipe comes from a pal of ours.  She had a recipe card with it on but I have no idea where it came from originally.  It's basic and tasty and a good summer dish... although can, of course, be eaten throughout the year.

When we found some pitta bread in the Sainsbury's Free From aisle the other week, we decided to give this recipe a go as a gluten free option.  As ever, Sous Chef J gathered the ingredients.

500g chicken fillets (we used thighs) diced
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
2 limes, juiced
one small carton houmous


one small carton greek yogurt (we used a few spoons of home made natural yogurt)
Pitta bread parcels (we used Sainsbury's Gluten Free)
Tomato and cucumber salad to serve

We marinaded the diced chicken in the lime juice and spice mixtures for 20-30 minutes. We did this by combining the lime juice and the three spices in an old takeaway container, then adding the chicken pieces, adding the lid and shaking well.

Whilst the chicken marinaded, we prepared the salad and combined the houmous and yogurt to make a dip.

Once the chicken was ready to cook a tablespoon of oil was added to a frying pan and the chicken was fried until cooked thoroughly.

We then warmed and split the pitta bread pockets to serve with the chicken and salad with houmous/yogurt dip.

Sous Chef J couldn't wait to enjoy the fruits of our labours!