Kitchen cupboard dip…one of my best dips ever!!!!

I have recently been challenging myself not to buy any more ‘ingredients’…! I literally have enough stocks to supply the whole street for a week in spices, dried chillies, jars of chickpeas, dried legumes, tubs of tahini, grains, oils, passata…you get the idea….!

So, I’ve been focussing on only buying fresh produce, and even then being more focussed on what I buy, whilst challenging myself to cook dishes from the cupboard and freezer. Which is how this dip was created…

It started off as a lunch dish..

This is a concoction of dried onions, chickpeas, red pepper paste and a Moroccan spice mix, all from my cupboard. 
I have the dried onion pieces in the cupboard to use in spice mixes, I’ve never used them in a dish before, so this was an experiment.

I started off by heating some coconut oil in a pan, then adding copious amounts of the dried onions and cooking them for a few minutes; I then added a good amount of the spice mix (details below), and cooked the onions and spices together for a minute or so; I then added a small amount of water to hydrate and soften the onions. I then added some drained and washed chickpeas, and a couple of tablespoons of Turkish red pepper paste and stirred it all together, and cooked it until I was happy with the outcome..

I ate a portion with a sauce of plain yoghurt, olive oil and lemon juice..

And it was very tasty!
And of course, there was leftovers…lovely, lovely leftovers 😀😀😀

And it was these leftovers that I blended with some tahini, lemon juice and splash of water to create one of the best dips I’ve ever made – and as most of you know, I’ve made, and make, a LOT of dips! 

Having blended the dip together, it was immediately tatsy, but even better the next day once it had had time for the flavours to develop..

What a great outcome!

The spice mix was one I put together after seeing a post from someone I follow on Instagram called ‘thecinnaman’ and includes ginger, coriander, chilli powder, red pepper flakes, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, turmeric, mace, nutmeg, cardamom, fennel seeds, anise seeds, fenugreek seeds, cloves, cayenne pepper and bay leaves. The anise seeds, fennel seeds and bay leaves are lightly roasted the  it’s all ground together. It’s a lovely mix that I’ve already used in various ways. 

Happy Wednesday!