I hadn’t been to the Britomart Farmers’ Market for a while, but visited a couple of weekends ago. It’s moved slightly further towards the water, making way for new shops, but is otherwise much the same.
A friendly young couple who make Turkish food have been operating one of the stall for a while. They sell excellent hummus and another spread called chemen, labelled “Famous Turkish Vegan Spread”.
I’m not sure how famous it is in the English-speaking world – Google doesn’t find much besides my photos on Flickr (though maybe it’s the same as muhammara?) – but it deserves to be better known.
Chemen is thick like hummus and deep red in colour. The main ingredients are chargrilled red capsicum, sundried tomatoes and crushed walnuts, and the spicy, but not hot mixture of flavours include dill, parsley, garlic, cumin, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and a bit of chilli. It’s great with avocado on bread, and keeps well in the fridge.
Oh my. I wish it were famous around here! That sounds fabulous.
I tried for a recipe on google last time I went to the Farmers Market – such a downer there doesn’t seem to be a good one out there!!! I like the bread they have at that stall too – totally delicious.