Flageolet bean and cumin hummus

I've been busy planting this week. Sweetcorn and french beans are on the window sills waiting to appear. Tomatoes and cucumbers are in grow bags in the garden and at the allotment we have planted a lawn and put in some strawberries, chives, salad, rocket and cauliflowers. Actually making sure they all survive and produce food is making me a bit nervous, as it is already quite a long list of things of things to keep alive. I've been reading and researching each plant trying to learn all of the gardening tricks... It may take some time...

This was a quick little snack I rustled up to keep energy levels up for a few hours on the allotment. If you have never made your own hummus you should certainly try, it is much nicer than a tub from the supermarket and you can adjust it to suit your own tastes. I have made traditional hummus with chickpeas, tahini, garlic and lemon, but you can substitute the chickpeas for different beans and add different spices to make many different variations. For this version I used flageolet beans and toasted cumin seeds.

You will need a food processor and it will only take about 2 minutes. Toast 2 teaspoons of cumin seeds in a dry pan and when they are lightly browned add them to a pestle and mortar and crush them to a rough powder. Add to the food processor a drained tin of flageolet beans, a large glug of olive oil, some salt and pepper, a chopped clove of garlic, the toasted cumin seeds and the juice of half a lemon.

Blitz everything for a few minutes until smooth and serve with some toasted pitta breads and a drizzle of olive oil. It is creamy, spicy with garlic and toasty warm cumin. An alternative version I have also made, which was equally delicious, was with butter beans and a handful of bruised rosemary... lovely.