Mediterranean “Nachos” (And Tehina Sauce Nutrition Facts)


Yeah it’s another recipe post. Since Superbowl Sunday’s on its way, and I told y’all how to make my favorite hummus last time, I thought I could give y’all one way to use said hummus and the tehina sauce you made with it…

I put “nachos” in quotes there because this is obviously neither Mexican nor Tex-Mex. I took the idea of nachos… that of chips loaded with ingredients… and went a completely different route with it.

The best part of this recipe is its customizability. The most important ingredients are the pita chips, the hummus, the tehina sauce, and the tzatziki sauce. Beyond those four things, you can add whatever you want… you can even skip everything else and just use those four ingredients. So feel free to play with this. And if you like it enough, maybe serve it at your Superbowl party… you know… if you’re having one…

Okay so like I said… there’s some customizability here. I actually made this vegan, and those are the ingredients I’m listing for you, but you don’t have to…

-2 cans chickpeas, drained (liquid reserved) (or you can use a ground meat)

-1 tsp ground cumin

-1 tsp dried thyme (or za’atar herb if you can get it)

-2 tbsps (24g) Diamond kosher salt

-1 recipe hummus, thinned out with ice water

-1 recipe tehina sauce (from above hummus recipe)

-1 recipe vegan tzatziki (or you can make or buy regular tzatziki if you aren’t going vegan)

Israeli Salad, Salad Shirazi (Persian Cucumber and Tomato Salad), or Çoban Salatası (Turkish Shepherd’s Salad)

-Tomatoes (deseeded and diced)

-Red Bell Pepper (deseeded and diced)

-Avocado (diced)

-Onion (diced

-Black Olives (thinly sliced)

1 So if you’re plan is to make this vegan, you’re going to start by making ground chickpeas. To do that, you’re going to take 2 cans of chickpeas and drain them. But reserve the liquid from at least one of the cans. You may not need it, and even if you do, you likely won’t use all or even most of it. Just hold onto it for now. Pour the chickpeas into a blender or food processor, and add the cumin, thyme, and salt. Pulse until coarsely chopped. If needed, you can add some of the reserved liquid in order to help loosen up the chickpeas. But only do so 1 tsp at a time, and don’t overdo it. You want coarsely chopped chickpeas, not a ground chickpea mash.

If you aren’t making this vegan, and you do want to use meat, simply work the cumin, thyme, and salt into some kind of ground meat and cook, keeping chopped up. Another option, if you happen to live near a market that sells it or a food place that is willing to sell you a container of it, is to get either raw or cooked shawarma meat. If raw, you’ll have to cook it, but if cooked, simply dice it into small bits and use it as your meat. You won’t need the cumin, thyme, or salt if you go this route.

2 So once the chickpeas or meat is ready, set aside. If you haven’t yet, go ahead and make the tehina sauce and hummus. If you’re making tzatziki, make that, as well. Thin the hummus out by whisking in 1 tbsp of ice water at a time while whisking, until the hummus is pourable but still somewhat thick.

3 If you’re having trouble finding one of three salads I mentioned, they’re easy enough to make. Just choose one, follow the link, and follow that recipe.

4 Dice the vegetables you plan on using and put them in separate serving bowls. Put the hummus, tehina sauce, tzatziki, ground chickpeas/meat, and chosen salad in separate serving bowls as well.

5 Get your pita chips. Pita chips are also super simple to make if you can’t find bags of them at your local grocery store. Just get some pita and slice them into trangular wedges. Mix olive oil with smashed garlic, salt, and pepper, and brush each of the pita wedges with the mix. Place on a lined baking sheet and put into a 375˚F oven for 12 to 13 minutes. Alternatively, you can drop in a deep fryer until golden (skip the olive oil brush for that, however… instead just season).

6 Put everything out on a table and let your guests build their own plates.

Honestly, while it is quite a bit of work, it’s also delicious and eminently worth it. It’s also, I’m sad to say, extremely high in calories. You can build a plate that goes over 1000 calories if you aren’t careful. Luckily, it’s not like it’s not healthy. There’s a lot of nutrients packed in here, as well.

So enjoy as you see fit. It’s 100% worth it, IMO.

Oh and… no nutrition facts for this one. It’s far too dependent on what ingredients you use and how you build your plate. If it helps, however, here’s the nutrition facts for the tehina sauce you made when making the hummus… I should have included it with the hummus recipe, but I’m including it here…

Nutrition Facts for Zahav's Basic Tehina Sauce

Nutrition Facts for Zahav’s Basic Tehina Sauce

Nutrition Facts:

Serving Size – 2 tbsps (17.5g)

Servings Per Container – 32

Calories 88                            Calories from Fat 60.72

Total Fat 7.2g                                                             11%

  • Saturated Fat 1g                                                  5%
  • Trans Fat 0g
  • Polyunsaturated Fat 3.2g
  • Monounsaturated Fat 2.7g

Cholesterol 0mg                                                         0%

Potassium 69mg                                                         2%

Sodium 64mg                                                             3%

Total Carbohydrates 4.7g                                          2%

  • Dietary Fiber 1.4g                                               6%
  • Sugars 0.1g

Protein 2.7g                                                                5%

Vitamin A 0.2%

Vitamin C 3.7%

Calcium 6.3%

Iron 2.2%

Vitamin E 0%

Thiamin 13.3%

Riboflavin 5.9%

Niacin 4.5%

Vitamin B6 1.2%

Folate 4%

Pantothenic Acid 1%

Phosphorus 11.3%

Magnesium 3.8%

Zinc 4.7%

Selenium 0%

Copper 10%

Manganese 10%

Comments

  1. avalus says

    Tried it and it’s delicious, thank you for the recipe. Really good against winter-meh-mood.

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