Hummus, Tabouli, and Baba Ganoush

Never buy hummus. It's terribly overpriced and extremely easy to make yourself. That is, if you have a food processor. You can do it in a blender or by hand as well but it's a considerably larger pain to do so(but still much more cost effective). Tabouli is also quite easy to make, though it does take some more ingredients you may not have on hand and a bit more time. Still, it's a much better choice than buying it greatly overpriced. Baba Ganoush is much more work compared to the other two but still worth doing yourself(especially for us corn-allergics who dislike buying such things).

Hummus

Can of Garbanzo Beans(15 or 19 ounces)
Fresh Juice of 1 Large Lemon
3 Tablespoon of Tahini(sesame seed paste, often found with Indian or Southeast Asian foods in the store)
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil(I always use more than this to get the proper consistency. The more you put in, the smoother it will get, to a point. Too much and you'll have some freakish oily soup.)
4-5 Cloves of Fresh Garlic, Minced
A Pinch of Sea Salt.

You can put just about anything you want in hummus to be honest, here are a few other recommendations: green olives, marinated artichokes, pine nuts, or parsley.

Put everything in the food processor together and blend until smooth. It should hold quite a long time in the fridge if you use fresh garlic, as it is an anti-fungal and anti-bacterial all in one.

Tabouli

1 cup Bulgar Wheat, presoaked
1.5 cups Parsley, finely minced
2 tablespoons Mint, finely chopped
1.5 Green onions, finely chopped
1/8 teaspoon Ground Pepper
1/8 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1/4 teaspoon Sea Salt, extra fine
1 Medium tomato, seeded and diced(I recommend something fleshy, like a Roma)
1.5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 medium cucumber, or 1 small one, peeled and sliced
1/2 head Romaine lettuce
1.5 tablespoons olive oil

Soak the Bulgar in 2 cups of water for one hour. After one hour, drain(it won't soak all the water up, don't worry). Mix all the ingredients excluding the lemon juice, oil, cucumber, and romaine lettuce leaves. Add the lemon juice, toss, and chill for one hour. Mix in the olive oil by tossing and serve upon the lettuce leaves arranged in a spoke fashion. Sprinkle on the cucumber on the top. Serves 3-4. It will last a few days in the fridge.
Note: I swiped this from Bob's Red Mill, though their product is by no means necessary. I haven't made my own in quite a while so I cannot verify the safety of that brand's product either.

Baba Ganoush
Adapted from David Lebovitz

3 medium-sized eggplants
1/2 cup tahini (roasted sesame paste)
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
3 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1/8 teaspoon chile powder
a pinch or two of cummin
1 tablespoon olive oil
a half bunch picked flat-leaf parsley or cilantro leaves

Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- Prick each eggplant a few times, then char the outside of the eggplants by placing them directly on the flame of a gas burner and as the skin chars, turn them until the eggplants are uniformly-charred on the outside. (If you don’t have a gas stove, you can char them under the broiler. If not, skip to the next step.)
- Place the eggplants on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until they’re completely soft; you should be able to easily poke a paring knife into them and meet no resistance.
- Remove from oven and let cool.
- Split the eggplant and scrape out the pulp. Puree the pulp in a blender or food processor with the other ingredients until smooth.
- Taste, and season with additional salt and lemon juice, if necessary. Chill for a few hours before serving. Serve with crackers, veggies or toasted pita chips.

Storage: Baba Ganoush can be made and refrigerated for up to five days prior to serving.

Fresh Spring Rolls

My mother loves Vietnamese spring rolls and I obliged her by making some before I left back to Boston College. There is no Vietnamese restaurant anywhere near me in Michigan, so it's a bit of a treat for her(and me, since I never go out to eat anymore). They are easy to make, they just take a fair amount of preparation time and finesse to make a first. If you're too impatient, you're just going to tear apart the rice wrapper and it'll just be a pile of fillings and some torn up rice paper. While this may taste nice, It's not what we're shooting for. Anyway, here's the methodology:

Vietnamese Fresh Rolls

8 Extra-Firm Tofu(a little more than half of the normal tofu package)
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Oil
1/2 tbsp Curry Powder
1/4 tsp Ground Cumin
1/4 tsp Ground Pepper
2-3 Cloves Crushed Garlic

Rice Paper
Shredded Carrots
Bean Sprouts
Vermicelli(Rice) Noodles
Lettuce(I prefer Boston Bib)

Slice the block of tofu into slices that around 1/4 of an inch thick, maybe a bit more. Mix all of the top group of ingredients well and marinate the sliced tofu in that mixture. Try not to break the tofu pieces at all, that just makes your end job harder. Marinate it for at least one hour, though I usually do it for an afternoon.
Brown the tofu in a pan, cooking it well. Slice it in half length-wise, and get all of the bottom group prepped nice and ready for yourself. Dip the rice paper in warm water, put the tofu in the bottom, and all of the other ingredients on top and fold together. Yes, I'm being purposefully vague on how to do that becasue I'm giving you a video link on how to do it. Yeah, I pretty much stole the recipe. What of it?