Homos & Sausage Fondue......And Before Dinner Drinks


Long Forks With Color
Spot On Top
Fondue Set


Fondue Chafer Dish
Enamel Coated Sauce Pan

You must have something to nibble on when you are having before dinner drinks.  It is dangerous to drink on an empty stomach! I would like to share with you two recipes I usually make when I have guests for dinner. The first is homos, the second is a fondue.
1)  Homos: chick peas, Tahini, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic mixed together into a purée, and cumin.
2)  Sausage fondue: A specially spiced hot tomato sauce in a fondue dish over its chafer dish with little cocktail sausages.
Homos
You will need:
-  500 gms of chick peas soaked in lots of water overnight.
-  1 cup Tahini
-  Juice of one big lemon
-  2 Tbsp. freshly ground cumin.
-  4 cloves of garlic, crushed and finely chopped.
-  2 Tbsp. olive oil. 
-  Salt, pepper, and Cayenne pepper to desired heat.
Method:
-  Cook the chick peas in lots of boiling water till tender.
-  Strain, keeping some of the liquid for dilution later on if the homos becomes too thick.
-  With a vertical hand held blender, blend the chick peas till they become a purée.
-  Transfer to a big bowl. If very thick, add some of the retained liquid. Not too much because the final product must not be drippy but rather thick.
-  Add the Tahini, and the garlic blend well with blender.
-  Add the oil, salt, pepper, cayenne, cumin and  lemon juice to taste. Mix well
-  Pour some oil on the suface, sprinkle some cumin, and drop a couple of leaves of parsley (if you have).
Ready. Cover with cling film, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Sausage Fondue:
 You will need:
-  250 ml of grated tomatoes with juice
-  2 Tbsp. tomato paste.
-  5 sun dried tomatoes finely chopped.
-  2 Tbsp. olive oil
-  3 cloves garlic crushed and finely chopped.
-  1 small onion finely chopped.
-  1 chili pepper finely chopped.
-  1 tsp. freshly ground cumin.
-  1 tsp. curry powder.
-  1 tsp. tumeric powder.
-  1 tsp. ginger powder.
-  500 gms -1 kg of cocktail sausages.
-  Salt to taste.
- Fondue set and lots of toothpics.
Method:
-  Make sauce by adding oil to a sauce pan, heat, add onion, garlic and chili, stir fry till onions become soft.
-  Add all tomatoes, stir and mix well.
-  Season by adding, cumin, curry, tumeric, ginger and finally salt. Bring to a boil, and simmer till the sauce is thick.
-  At the last minute add cocktail sausages.
-  Transfer the whole lot to the fondue earthenware sauce pan shown in figure. Cover till your guests are due to arrive.
-  Serve on the chafer dish to keep warm. Have lots of toothpicks close by so as to pick sausages with.
-  Have lots of papadams, toasted pita bread or potato crisps for the homos, the sausages, or the sauce.
Enjoy!
Stelio

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