Creamy Chumus

I'm made hummus before, but it didn't turn out the way I like it: it was good, but didn't have the creaminess of the Israeli chumus that I like so much. My older brother emailed me a recipe for the creamy kind and, while a bit labor-intensive, turned out just how I wanted it.

Prepare:
-Over night, soak 1 cup of dried chickpeas in 4 cups of water and 1tsp baking powder (use a large pot)
-Ready 1/3 cup tahini, 1/2 cup lemon juice (I used the juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime), 3 minced cloves of garlic, 1 tsp coarse salt, 2 tbsp olive oil
-Get out your food processor

Cook:
-Drain water from soaked chickpeas, fill pot back up with 4 cups water and 1/2tsp baking powder - bring to a boil and simmer for about 40 minutes (skimming off some foam from the top), until each chickpea is consistently yellow all the way through (ie they're edible)-Drain (but save water) and cool water and chickpeas down to room temperature and then stick in the freezer for about 30 min (or fridge for 2hrs) until well chilled-Process chickpeas with lemon juice and salt until even and creamy. It should be thick but not too thick. Add 1 or 2 tbsp of the cooking water to thin it out a bit-Add garlic and tahini and process completely
-While processor is still running, drizzle olive oil into it
-Taste and decide how to adjust (add more tahini, lemon juice, salt, garlic, etc)

Tips:
-Well, this turned out how I wanted it. It was a bit plain and so next time I'll go for a garlickier item, or perhaps make it spicy
-Originally, the recipe called for 1/4 cup lemon juice and I added 1/2 by accident and it turned out perfect. Normally I don't like things too sour, too, and I was fine with it
-The recipe called for 1/2 cup tahini but even with 1/3 cup the tahini taste was still quite noticable
-In the recipe, they mention in the stage between lemon juice and tahini to spread chickpeas on a "fine mesh sieve" to get out the peels. I tried with a paper-towel and (obviously) couldn't get anything out, so I just skipped that step and it turned out fine
-My processor was a bit too small for all the stuff, so I separated everything in two and mixed it with half the ingredients, then mixed the stuff back together

Challah

Feeling nostalgia for home and its saturation of Jewish cuisine, I felt a craving for some challah. Sadly, here in Australia, I have never seen challah and would probably have to find some Jewish people and a synagogue in order to find one. So my solution was to make it. I got the recipe off the ever-proliferative AskMeFi, and would like to thank flakypastry for the post. This was not as difficult as I thought and amazingly delicious. Seriously, it was one of the nicest things I've made. This makes one big loaf.
Ready:
-2 egg yolks (save the whites for later) and 1 egg, beaten together
-2 packages active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp)
-1 cup warm water
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
-4 cups bread flour (plus more for later)
-2 tsp salt
-Some sesame/poppy seeds, if you like them
Prepare:
-In a large bowl dissolve yeast into 1 cup of warm water, wait till you see bubbles
-At this point, add the beaten egg mixture, oil, sugar, salt, and flour and mix until you can remove the dough from the bowl-Knead on a floured surface/board, adding more flour, about 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough is not sticking to your hands, but still sticking together (you'll be able to tell)-Transfer dough to an oiled bowl (I sprayed with canola oil), and turn it a couple times till it's covered. Cover with a towel and leave somewhere warm for about an hour. It should have at least doubled in size and an indent made with your finger should stay in place-Knead dough for about 5 more minutes and then divide into 3 balls
-Roll out balls until they make 3 snakes, about a foot long or so-Press together 1 end of the three snakes, and proceed to braid them together
-At this point, get the egg white from previously and crack another egg in there, and beat it. Now, brush the surface of the challah with the egg wash, and then sprinkle sesame/poppy seeds on top-Place on a flat baking tray with baking paper
Cook:
-After you've seeded the challah, turn on oven to 350F/175C and wait for the oven to get warm while the challah rises a bit longer
-Bake for 30-35 minutes (mine took exactly 35), until it's starting to get golden. If you remove from the pan, knock the bottom - it should sound hollow

Tips:
-If you like/want a sweeter challah, you can up the sugar a bit and add raisins after the first rise. If you do this, you'll want to lower to the temperature to about 340/350 and bake for 40 minutes
-Keep the rest of the egg after the egg wash and fry it up into a little scrambled egg to eat with the fresh challah
-Enjoy with some hummus!

Hummus

I got a new food processor for my birthday and so tried to inaugurate it with hummus. I love the Israeli style hummus (pronounced ch-oo-moos), which is much creamier and richer and less grainy than the hummus available in most stores. I failed, however, in making it and instead made a more Western-style hummus. Still tasty but not my cup of dip.
Prepare:
-1 can of chick peas, drained and rinsed (I should have used the fresh, maybe, and also removed the peels... but I didn't)
-1/3 cup tahini
-Several cloves of garlic
-Some olive oil
-Juice of 1/2-1 whole lemon, pending your taste
-1/2-1 tsp pending on your taste of the following: cumin, paprika, black pepper, salt
Cook:
-Roast the garlic in the peel in a toaster oven for about 20 minutes or until soft
-Process the chick peas first

-Add garlic, oil, lemon juice, and spices
-Add oil/water until reaches desirable consistency and flavor
-Garnish with some olive oil, parsley, and pine nuts, and enjoy with fresh pita, bread, or crackers

Schug (Spicy Cilantro Paste)

This is a purportedly Israeli spicy sauce that my dad would always make. Schug (the 'ch' is the back of the throat, hard sound) is an amazingly delicious paste that works wonders on sandwiches, meats, etc. It's also easy to make and freezes quite well.
Prepare:
-Buy 1-2 bunches of cilantro, chop off only the bottom 1/3 of the stems-Get several spicy peppers. I used Thai chili peppers since that's easiest to find where I live, but a good variety of Thai, Jalapeño, Habanero, etc will add to the depth of the paste, roughly chopped but not seeded (1-4 peppers per bunch of cilantro pending on how spicy you like it)-Peel several cloves of garlic (1 if you don't like garlic, 3-4 if you like the taste)Cook:
-In a food processor, pulse cilantro, garlic, peppers, a bit of olive oil (only enough to make the paste liquidy), and some salt. If it doesn't blend properly, add a bit more olive oil, slowly (you don't want it too oily), taste and adjust pepper or cilantro to taste-Store in a jar and refrigerate/freeze
Tips:
-If you don't like it spicy, make sure to put in some flavorful but not spicy pepper, otherwise the sauce will only be cilantro
-I've never tried this but I reckon a bit of red onion might add to the flavor

"Israeli" Salad

This is a salad we often made in my house growing up, ostensibly calling it "Israeli Salad". I think it's fairly ethnic but we've bastardized it enough to make it our own. It's basically a very delicious vegetable salad.
Prepare:
-Dice most of the vegetables you own. Vegetables I would deem necessary would be tomato, cucumber, carrot, some kind of pepper, some kind of onion, and cilantro. I did tomato, cucumber, radish, green onion, red onion, carrot, bell pepper, chili pepper, and cilantro. -Mix vegetables with about 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt to taste, and juice of around 1/4-1/2 a lemon, to taste.
Tips:
-Works great with feta
-Stuff in a pita with or without some meat for a great sandwich.