Amina Elshafei is a TV personality and cook.
She is best known for appearing in two seasons of Masterchef.
Today Amina is cooking Hummus bil Lahma (hummus with meat). The lamb is cooked with pine nuts and spices before being served on a bed of hummus.
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Recipe below:
Hummus bil Lahma (hummus with meat)
Serves 3-4 as a shared plate
Quick Hummus Recipe
400gms can boiled chickpeas
1/3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 medium clove garlic
2tbs heaped tahini paste
3-4 tbs reserved chickpea cooking liquid
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2/3 tsp fine salt
Meat topping
2 tbs unsalted butter
1 tbs pine nuts
1 tbs slivered almonds
1/2 cup medium sized onion, finely chopped
500gms deboned lamb loin chops, cut into 0.5cm cubes
1 tsp minced garlic
1 heaped tsp baharat (Arabic 7 spice mix)
1/3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tbs pomegranate molasses
Salt to black pepper taste
Pomegranate seeds, chopped parsley, Aleppo pepper and extra virgin olive oil for garnishing
Fresh Lebanese or flat bread
Method
Rinse the canned chickpeas twice, drain and transfer into pot filled with water that is at least 2cm above the level of the chickpeas.
Stir in the bicarbonate of soda and bring the chickpeas to a rapid bowl the reduce to a gentle boil for 20mins. Remove the heat and allow the chickpeas to cool to room temperature.
Use your hands to gently rub the chickpeas until some of the skins peel off. Discard the skins and drain the chickpeas ensuring to leave some of the cooking liquid aside.
In a blender or food processor, add the drained and recooked chickpeas, garlic, tahini paste, 2tbs each of the reserved cooking liquid, lemon juice and salt. Blitz until smooth and add further reserved lemon juice and/or cooking liquid if the mixture is very thick. The consistency should be light, smooth and be able to just hold its shape.
Heat a frypan on medium and melt 1tbs of butter. Once melting, fry the remaining almonds and pine nuts until golden. Remove and set aside.
Melt remaining butter then fry the chopped onion until starting to brown. Turn heat to high and add the chopped lamb and garlic. When the lamb almost cooked through, stir through spices, pomegranate molasses, previously cooked nuts and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for a further 2 minutes then turn off the heat.
Spread generous amount of room temperature hummus evenly onto a flat platter. Spoon the spiced lamb over the hummus. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, chopped parsley leaves, sprinkle of Aleppo pepper and some extra virgin olive oil around the edge of the hummus. Serve immediately.
Tip for serving hummus on its own: sprinkle some mild ground paprika, drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil and garnish with mint leaves.