Perfect snack:Onion Naan & Hummus

Strictly speaking, these aren’t supposed to go together, but yesterday when arriving home hungry with little time to spare and a nearly empty fridge, this combo was the best I could do. And it wasn’t a bad idea either. Granted, the onion naan and the garlicy hummus did leave me with some awesome breath afterward, but it was well worth it. Both of these recipes were from the Native Foods cookbook. This is one of those cookbooks that has really great recipes in it but I tend to steer clear of because many of them can be overly complicated and impractical. On the other hand, these two recipes were super simple.

The onion naan was pretty much perfect. We ate it all and nearly spoiled dinner. I could still eat more if there were some left. It was soft and flavorful, chewy and had those nice little burnt bubbly bits. The only thing that didn’t quite work with the recipe is how small each piece was. Although I’m a fan of individual servings, it just took WAY too long to cook this way. You’re supposed to cook each piece in the center of a skillet 3-4 minutes on each side…now multiply that times the 16 pieces of dough. Yeah, like I said, way too long. I recommend going with larger pieces of naan just to save time. Unless of course you have a huge grill where you can cook more pieces at a time, then go for it. Also, definitely don’t roll out the pieces as thin as it says. I mean you could, but they are way better when they’re a little doughy, rather than crackery.

I wasn’t as excited about the hummus, although it was a nice compliment for the naan. It was a bit too tangy for my taste, and not quite thick enough. I added tahini to my recipe but the lemon and garlic were both very distinct. This isn’t necessarily bad, but just not my thing I guess. Mostly I think it should have been thicker. Perhaps next time, less lemon juice and more chickpeas. I’m still interested in trying a hummus recipe using chickpea flour. This seems strange and yet logical at the same time.

In any case, you could probably whip these up and have something to eat in less than half an hour (although you probably won’t be done cooking all of the naan, but some anyway). It was also a good reminder for me that I should not abandon the poor Native Foods cookbook that has some great easy treats in it just because the entrees are way too involved.