Smoky butterbean dip & pitta chips

This is a really easy-to-make and delicious dip that is a life saver if you’ve got people piling round in 10 minutes, and haven’t had time to run out and buy some houmous. Not that this is like houmous at all: it’s a butterbean dip flavoured with lemon and smoky paprika. It’s really moreish and stupefyingly healthy, too.


Serves 4 as an appetiser with drinks

You will need:

1 400g tin butterbeans in water, drained and rinsed
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 heaped tsp smoked hot paprika (I use the La Chinata brand, available in most supermarkets)
1 lemon
Dash of tamari or soy sauce
Extra virgin olive oil or organic rapeseed oil – about 3 tablespoons
Salt and pepper
Optional: a few shakes of smoky chipotle Tabasco, chopped coriander to garnish.

You can either use a stick hand blender or a food processor to whizz this up. Place the butterbeans and crushed garlic in the blending receptacle, then drizzle over the oil and a shake of tamari or soy. Take your lemon and grate off its zest and add to the mixture. Cut the lemon in half and juice it, add the juice to the mix along with the smoked paprika and chipotle Tabasco (if you have it). Blend everything together until creamy. If the mixture is a little dry, add a bit more oil or a tablespoon or two of water until it comes together. Taste it then season with salt and pepper as you wish. Serve in a bowl, drizzle over a bit of oil onto the top and sprinkle on some more smoked paprika or chopped coriander. Great with pitta chips - see below:

Pitta chips

These are awesome! I got the idea from Chocolate and Zucchini's recipe for Zaatar Pita Chips and have adapted it slightly. You basically need pitta breads or flatbreads, oil and herbs. They are crispy, chewy and delicious – and make a nice change to regular crisps.

To serve about 4 people, you will need:

1 packet 6 pitta breads (both wholemeal and white work well)/flatbreads
Extra virgin olive oil or organic rapeseed oil
Zataar herb mix (delicious Middle Eastern thyme/sumac/sesame mixture) or any herb mix you like (Herbes de Provence work well, or you could even use a mixture of curry spices)
Salt and pepper

Chop up the pitta breads into small crisp-sized pieces, pulling the double layer of bread apart into single bits. Plonk them in a large salad bowl. Drizzle over a few good shakes of oil and toss with salad servers so that all the pieces are lightly coated. Sprinkle over a handful of herbs and toss them through. If your herb mix is pre-salted (Zataar sometimes is) you don’t need to add salt, but if not, grind over some seasoning and toss once more. Tip the mixture into a large oven tray and bake for 20 mins in an oven preheated to 200C. Serve with the dip above. Yum!