I live in the Netherlands, and this year so far we’ve had 6 months of winter, 1.5 months of spring, and a week of summer. In the past few days, the temperature has gotten upwards of 33 degrees celsius and it’s uncomfortable no matter what you wear or what you do – unless you’re fortunate enough to find some airco. When I saw a recipe for a chickpea wrap in a sauce of sriracha, I have to admit that I was sort of sceptical as to whether it was an appropriate choice – all things considered, but I went ahead with the dish and really, I have no regrets about that decision. This is a fantastic recipe, which I found at Olives for Dinner. The most unfortunate thing in this case is that I forgot to photograph the end result. These things happen when you’re racing to pull all the last-minute details together (like forgetting to go out to the garden for fresh cilantro) and you have hungry dinner guests.
What did I change from Erin’s recipe? (and I say Erin because it’s the closest thing I could find re: her name) A few things. For one, I didn’t slow cook mine, but rather I simmered it for about an hour whilst preparing the rest of the meal (and some fantastic popsicles, which I felt might be well received in the heat and with a burning mouth – and I was right!) Anyway, I don’t have access to Earth Balance here, and I also feel uncomfortable about using some dairy replacements, so I did add a tablespoon of pure butter to my chickpeas. I had some leftover herbed goat cheese that needed to be eaten, so I tossed that in as well. I believe it was about 3 tablespoons, and what it did in the end was thicken the sauce a little. Ah and I also don’t have access to Tofutti so I used fat-free plain kwark with my avocado and it was really awesome. I did add some soy “chicken” bits to the dish to add a meaty element for my meat-eating dinner guests and whilst browning them in a separate pan, I gave them a few sprays of Liquid Smoke. The jury is still out on Liquid Smoke, as I feel that it has some sort of artificial taste that doesn’t sit well with me, however, I LOVE smoked anything (this is a lie, as I don’t eat smoked fish, for example, or smoked pork, so I’m using exaggeration to stress my fondness for it. You get it, right?) and sometimes, I just want that flavour in my food.
And – how was it? It was SPICY! Everyone had seconds, complimented the avocado sauce, and said they’d want to have it again. It ended up working well with the sweltering heat, since we were all sweating anyway, and what’s a little runny nose?
Is there anything I’d change about this dish? Not really. I might add some lime to the avocado and serve a sweet, sliced baby tomato and cucumber salad on the side. I did this last night and really, it was nice to have something to cool my palate. I’d also suggest serving this with homemade lemonade or something with a fresh flavour that’s soft on your tongue.
Overall – this scored an 8 out of 10 and it’s going into my recipe book. I think I have a new appreciation for the uses of sriracha and will be a bit more ballsy about it moving forward. As a sauce – it ROCKED! Thanks Erin!
Recipe Hunter 