Dips/spreads

Add Chicaoji to just about any dairy product or bean dip.

Jon’s Chicaoji Hummus

| Randall Waugh
  • 1x 16oz. can garbanzos  aka chickpeas (See below for dry/cooked beans ratio.)
  • 1 large clove garlic, crushed and chopped
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 2 – 3 Tbs. Chicaoji (to taste)
  • Juice of 1 lemon or lime
  • 2 – 4 Tbs. toasted sesame oil (according to taste)
  • 2 – 3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil

Rinse garbanzos well in a strainer. Put the rinsed garbanzos, garlic, salt, Chicaoji, lemon or lime juice and sesame oil in a food processor. Process until a smooth puree forms – about a minute or two. Add a little water to make the texture smoother if necessary. With the processor still running, add the olive oil. Process until smooth and incorporated.
Great with crunchy vegetables such as celery, jicama sticks, carrots, cucumber sticks, etc. Or on pita or naan.

Notes:

Jon added, “You can use tahini instead of the toasted sesame oil. I don’t like the texture that the tahini often imposes, so I use the oil. But others find the tahini just as good.”

Jon’s recipe referred to a can of beans so I looked up what that means in term of dry/cook beans. Here’s what I found:
One 15.5 ounce can of beans = 1 ½ cups cooked = ¾-to-1 cup dried

JP’s Magic Chicaoji Sauce

| Randall Waugh

John P. from Burlingame, California came up with a REALLY unusual recipe that I want to share with y’all. This is what he said when I asked him if he had a Chicaoji recipe. RW

“I do have a recipe for you. It’s a super simple one, once you obtain the 3 ingredients, that is, but amazing if I might say so myself.

I put it on everything and make lots to give away.

Here ya go:

  • 1/3     Chicaoji Sauce
  • 1/3     Kewpee Mayonaise
  • 1/3 (or less, depending on how runny you want it) Yuzu Juice

I riff’ed it up while messing around in the kitchen one evening. It just clicked.

Now, I can’t live without it on things like:

  • Fried Okra, or fried anything
  • Grilled Asparagus
  • Tacos
  • Roast veggies of any type
  • Fish of any type and cooking style
  • Anything where you might use mayo or a sauce”
    ~~~~~~~~~
    The ingredients for John’s recipe can be found online. I had to look up both ingredients that were not Chicaoji!

Kewpie Mayo is apparently the go-to mayo for master chefs. (Not surprisingly, I’d never heard of it!)

Yuzu Juice is a really interesting food that is common on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. It’s a variety of citrus that is considered to have some health benefits. Here’s a LINK to some info I found about the benefits.  John even has a Yuzu growing at his Bay Area home.

Now not everyone is going to have Kewpie Mayo and Yuzu Juice on hand but you can get the idea from John’s recipe. Please do let me know if you come up with substitutes and or any “recipe riff” of your own.

Thank you, Randall

Chicaoji Dip

| Randall Waugh
  • 1 cup – Cream cheese, yogurt or sour cream
  • 2 tablespoons Chicaoji -(probably more but start with 2 Tbs)

Blend together. Eat with bread, chips, crackers, vegetables, meat, or pretty much anything..