I recently bought black chickpeas and I must say, they are very impressive indeed. You know me, I always get so excited when I find ingredients that seem a bit different, intriguing, even somewhat odd at times. Since I had never cooked black chickpeas before, I instantly started looking for inspiration and new ideas on the internet.

As expected, I couldn’t really find many black chickpea recipes online but I did come across something just as interesting, yet entirely different; a humorous, thought-provoking article. Now, one might wonder, how exactly can chickpeas make you laugh or reflect on more than, well, recipes? But chickpeas were just the pretext I suppose. The article titled "Mum, how should I cook chickpeas?" spurred me to actually introspect and realise I can relate to many of the author’s descriptions. (Article is in Greek but you can give Google Translate a try!)

Regardless of how well we think we’ve managed to bridge the age gap between us and our children or how better we think we do things than our own mothers, reading an article like this can make us realise that no matter how hard we’ve tried not to repeat our parents’ mistakes, in the end and without even realising, we’ve followed in their footsteps one too many times!

No, we haven’t made the exact same mistakes our parents made but are we as different as we think we are after all? I might not relate to the story of a mother refusing to give her chickpea recipe to her daughter for years, since cooking has always been a fun family activity for us, but I’m sure I’ve made the same mistake with other things that I subconsciously felt reluctant to share or made sure they’re kept for myself, foolishly thinking I’m the only one who can excel in them.

I honestly believe that, as a parent, I completely support and trust in my child’s abilities, and besides, my daughter has been living on her own ever since she was 18 when she left for studies abroad. I still wonder though, why we find it so hard to accept that our children can manage well without us, and, more often than not, even better than us. Maybe that’s exactly what terrifies us and keeps us from giving our valuable secrets away, hoping this will make our necessary help and presence in our children’s lives last forever.

What else could it be that makes us believe we’re the only ones having the know-how to deal with important or even trivial matters, like a chickpea recipe or how to recover from a cold and when’s the right time to put on a jacket. I’m afraid this little habit all parents have is not easy to get rid of and no matter how hard we try, at the end of the day, a mother’s advice will always be considered the wisest!

Black chickpea hummus it is! We love hummus so much and I have to say, it’s proved to be an ultimate crowd-pleaser, time after time. From breakfast to dinner, hummus can be combined with so many different ingredients and never fails to impress. This time I went for a classic, delicious and velvety hummus with the crispiest pita bread. Perfection! Wouldn’t say no to a hummus and vegetables platter either (or any other hummus recipe for that matter).

I also had quite a few ripe, ready-to-eat avocados and plenty of coriander and, as it turns out, an avocado dip goes perfectly with black chickpea hummus. Yum!