Who doesn’t like Hummus?
No seriously, who doesn’t like it? I sometimes think that I could live on a a diet of decent – and this recipe is very decent – Hummus!
This is a basic recipe, but if you look around the supermarkets, you’ll see Hummus with all sorts of additions. See NOTES below for suggestions. So, add virtually whatever you like to this basic recipe, or serve it as it is. Either way, you’ll have a delicious plate of homemade Hummus for a fraction of the price the supermarkets charge for a teeny-weeny pot!
Virtually everything in this recipe can be kept in your larder – tins of chickpeas, Tahini, Cumin, etc.
Just be careful not to feed it to someone with a Sesame allergy. Actually, as the Mother of a nut-allergic child, I never bothered with Tahini when I was making Hummus back in the day, and it tasted fine. Again, you can add whichever spices are your favourite. Mine is Cumin, I just love it, but I think ground Coriander would be great too.
EQUIPMENT:
- A small food processor, or a hand-held blender.
- A sieve
- a high-side glass or ceramic jug
- A spatula
- a shallow plate to serve
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 tin of chickpeas, drained, washed and dried
- 2 dessertspoons of Tahini paste
- Good pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon of ground Cumin
- a good squeeze of Lemon juice – about 1 tablespoon to start off with.
- 2-3 tablespoons of Olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
- 2 tablespoons of cold water
- Lots of nice things to smear it on, or dip into it – I’m going to leave that to you!
METHOD:
- Hold back a small handful of whole chickpeas for decoration.
- As for the Tapenade recipe: Put everything into the jug and blitz until it is mashed down well and has a creamy consistency.
- Scrape down the sides of the jug a couple of times as you go.
- If it looks dry, add an extra 1 or 2 tablespoons of water and/or Olive oil. It should be smooth and creamy.
- Taste for salt and lemon; add as required.
- Spread onto a shallow dish, throw over the whole chickpeas, then drizzle generously with Olive oil.
- Serve with either small crostini, or fresh vegetable Crudités (I go for carrot batons and Celery sticks)
NOTES:
- You can add all sorts of flavours to Hummus – try a small handful of roasted peppers, or add a little Curry powder, some Sun-dried Tomato paste or even some soaked and blitzed dried apricots to ring the changes. It’s hard to go past the original recipe though!