"Kanye" Make Tasty Hummus!

If I said "Kanye West" to you, would you know who or what I was talking about?  Admittedly it was raining on our tin roof making it difficult to hear, when my daughter said his name.  I replied with "can I what...?"

We had just come home after spending a couple of relaxing hours at the farm.  Feeling calm and refreshed, a leisurely evening watching the Australian Open would cap our lovely day.

About 6.30pm Nicka tore out of her room with an OMG look on her face. Sorry dear, but I've never heard of Kanye West. It was the Big Day Out, the day would finish with the highlight act being this Kanye West.  Nicka had missed calls only to find out she had half an hour to get to destination xxxx, meet up with her photographer friend, get to the Big Day Out and meet with Kanye West's first cousin Tony Williams. A private photography session in Kanye West's dressing room had been arranged.

"Have fun, drive safely" I yelled out to her as she flew out the door.  Mitch looked at me and said "I swear mum, when that girl was born she was touched with a rainbow".  I agree with him.  She has had a lucky streak in life. But then she was born on a day filled with nines. Would you believe she turned 9 years old on 19/9/1999?  What can I say - she's lucky!

Bottom line, she returned home the next day with a totally satisfied look on her face.  I detached myself from the computer, turned around and listened to the events of that evening.  She showed me her VIP backstage pass. Okay; nice (actually I wasn't that impressed - now if we were talkin' country singer John Williamson then I'd straighten up).

I hear how she and her friend Brooke watched the whole show with the family and friends of Kanye West right in front of the stage.  Apparently all the media and photographers were ushered away when his show started and when security came up to Brooke and Nicka to move them, Tony said 'leave those girls, they're with us".  And so here was my Nicka, with her friend and Kanye West's relatives and friends in front of the stage with a barrier and literally thousands and thousands of fans behind them.  Even I had to laugh at that.

She later meets Kanye West in his dressing room.  There is an after party at Versace Palazzo and she and friend Brooke are invited. They go. The girls spend time talking to Tony Williams; he's after shots for an album cover.  Brooke mentions Nicole's European Adventure photographs to him.  He pops onto her facebook, peruses them and says to Nicole "you didn't take those".  Sounds like he was impressed. Gee, thanks Tony, so I'm not just a biased mother after all!!  He looks over her other photographic works and he even leaves a comment on her facebook page.

Enough said.  It'll be interesting to see what may eventuate. Such is life with my Nicole. It's unpredictable and just when I could murder her (not the tidiest person on the block), I sit here bemused. Earlier that day I yelled at the mountain of washing she dumped in my laundry basket, watched as she later rode the new quad bike up and over the hills on our farm - stopping and patting cows along the way and later in the evening she finds herself in Kanye West's dressing room with Kanye dancing 1/2 a metre away from her. It's all too much!  A reality check please.  How about some humble hummus - with a twist of course - none of that plain stuff please; after all, we've been touched with fame.

Hummus with Caramelised Onions.

230gm cooked chickpeas (I cook heaps & keep small bags in the freezer, canned is fine but please rinse & drain well)
1 very large onion
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cloves purple garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
warm water
salt & cracked pepper
extra olive oil for frying onion

• slice the onion; place in frypan with approx. 3 tablespoons olive oil; fry slowly for about 20 minutes or till onion has softened.  Increase heat a little; watch till the onion browns nicely - not blackened - add about 1 teaspoon of sugar.  Cook for a minute or so; set aside; allow to cool. 
• in a small processor add all the listed ingredients including the onion except for warm water.  Process well.  The mixture should look pasty and may be a little dry.  Add about 3 tbsp water. Process. Keep adding water and perhaps a little more oil or lemon juice if desired till you reach a nice spreadable consistency.  Be mindful the more water you add, the less intense will be the flavour.  
• taste your end result; add more salt, pepper and more sugar if desired, but I found the caramelised onions added a beautiful sweetness to the dish and  no further sweetness was required. 

I'll admit right here that I've actually never been a fan of hummus.  I eat it because I know it's good for me.  I find canned chickpeas are always more bitter than chickpeas I soak and cook myself. Not sure why, but that's my experience. Some hummus that I've eaten has a bitter aftertaste which I really dislike.  

I thought I'd  try a sweet onion touch to the recipe to see what a difference that may make. I can't tell  you how delicious it is. No one in my family will eat hummus.  Invariably I always have leftover that's been sitting in the fridge for too long which the chickens happily devour.  They won't be devouring this lot.  I demolished it in two sittings.  It was absolutely the face lift that my hummus needed.  I won't make it any other way from now on.  I think I just made hummus 'famous'.  At least it will be if Nicole has anything to do with it!