Middle Eastern Lunch

These are little tapas like dishes that I made for a light lunch with a friend. Squid is really cheap in Buenos Aires, so we have fried calamari, and Fede's love of hummous means I have to put down my recipe for home-made hummous!

Home-made hummous
I don't have a blender so do this by hand with a fork. It's only a tiny bit more effort!

Ingredients:
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 cloves of garlic, grated or chopped finely
Juice of half a lemon
150ml extra virgin olive oil
2-3 tablespoons Tahini (sesame paste)
Salt and Pepper

Method:
1. In a bowl mash the chickpeas with a fork (or blend in a blender) adding a little olive oil.
2. Stir in the Tahini and lemon juice and keep mashing until smooth.
3. Make it more liquid by adding the rest of the olive oil bit by bit whilst stirring.
4. Add the garlic and seasoning to taste.
You can sprinkle with paprika or caramalised onion and more whole chickpeas!

Simple Tzatziki

Ingredients:
200ml thick yogurt (greek of possible)
1 clove of garlic, grated, minced or finely chopped
Handful of mint, chopped finely
Half cucumber, grated or chopped finely
Salt and pepper

Method:
This is so easy! Just mix all the ingredients together and add more or less garlic, salt and pepper to taste! Serve with pitta bread (called pan arabe in Argentina) or fresh vegetables to dip!

Calamari
I spent a while cleaning and removing the guts of the squid, but I am sure you can find it ready-prepared or ask your fishmonger! (I quite enjoyed it really, there was ink and everything)

Ingredients
250 grams squid, washed and in small pieces
50 grams polenta / corn flour
50 grams white flour
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon baking soda
Cooking oil

Method
1. Fill a heavy based pan with abuot 5 cm of oil and heat until very hot
2. Mix the flours and spices and coat each piece of squid in the nixture.
3. When the oil is hot (carefully) place the pieces of squid in the oil and allow to fry for 2-3 minutes
4. Remove (also very carefully) with a spatula and allow to dry on paper towels.
Serve with lemon (and garlic mayonnaise)