Boat Food: Chunky Hummus Wraps

Sometimes I have to get creative.  Ok - I pretty much always have to get creative.  Living on a boat directly translates to being creative.  At least in the kitchen (galley).

This is actually a good thing to me - I'm always trying to figure out how to do something on the boat that you wouldn't think twice about on land.  And I love it!  (most of the time)



On our latest week long trip, in July - aka the hottest month of the year in the southern states, I was trying to come up with something that I didn't need to cook.  But it also had to be delicious.  And dairy/meat free...  No problem, right?

I decided I wanted a hummus wrap.  Cold hummus, cucumbers, fresh summer tomatoes - how hard could it be?  Turns out it's not hard at all.  The only step I had to get creative with was, well, the hummus part...  There's no power at anchor - or at least no power to run the food processor.  Ok - maybe there is.  I could plug it into the inverter, but that uses the battery power.  It was really sunny and the solar powers were cranking out the juice to fuel the batteries, but where is the challenge there?

I ended up grabbing a can of garbonzo beans (chick peas) and tossing them in a bowl with your standard hummus ingredients:

• garbonzo beans
• tahini
• cumin
• coriander
• cayenne
• salt
• garlic
• turmeric
• lemon juice
• pepper
• olive oil

Normally, I would toss all of these into a food processor and go to town.   A couple of long whirls of the blade and, boom! Creamy, delicious hummus.

Instead I grabbed a pastry cutter and started smashing.  You could also use a fork.  Or a potato masher.  Whatever is handy and will smash things.  I adjusted the seasonings to taste.  I chopped some tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, carrots, avocado, onion - whatever I could get my hands on, stirred it in, and just scooped it into a tortilla and rolled it up. Super-easy.  And delicious.  I was able to just throw the remaining bits into the fridge to eat later.

In the future, when we finally set sail, I will be using my pressure cooker to cook dry garbonzo beans.  Then I can make a big batch of chunky hummus to keep in the fridge.  This is great for hot days - but also for passages.  You get your protein to keep you full - without heating up the boat or staying below too long.  My stomach still does not love being below decks in certain seas - aka rolly.  And what's the point of going below to whip up dinner if I'm too nauseous to bother eating it?

This recipe is definitely a winner in my boat book - and I'll be adding it to our rotation, as well as to my list of cruising foods.  Ok, so the cruising food list currently exists only in my brain, but it's there.  I did, however, finally make a Provisioning spreadsheet!  This is helping me narrow down what staples we should actually have onboard - as well as where to stash everything.  Baby steps - but we are certainly getting closer to being able to sail away into the sunset.  Or sunrise.  Or mid-afternoon.  At this point, I don't care - I'm just ready to go!  (Can you tell I'm getting antsy?)

I'm always looking for boat food ideas.  Do you have a favorite recipe that you use on your boat?  Or, better yet - a recipe you love, but can't imagine me making on a boat?  Leave it in the comments below.  I do love a challenge.