Friday, March 19, 2010

Hummus

We can't have Tanya eating, or worse, feeding her husband, hummus that tastes like bean dip with peanut butter! I've been making hummus for several years now, ever since various of my children declared they were becoming vegetarians, whether I liked it or not! I have nothing against vegetarians but I would have preferred they waited until I was no longer in charge of their care and feeding.....

When we lived in Belgium we used to buy the most delicious hummus from a vendor at one of the local open air markets. Back in the States, all we could find was the supermarket variety, a very anemic cousin of the real thing. And so the experiments started. I have made it with peanut butter, but never with soy sauce. Here is a version that seems to work for us:


2 cans of chickpeas
1 cup of tahini
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of one lemon, more if you like it lip-puckery!
3 Tablespoons water
good pinch of cayenne pepper
dash of Tabasco
several cloves of garlic, chopped
salt to taste
1/2 cup of chopped parsley or cilantro [and a little more for garnish]
1/4 tsp paprika

Place all ingredients in food processor bowl and puree until smooth. Taste for seasoning. Amounts of all ingredients can be adjusted until you have a blend that tastes right to you. Good luck. It's so easy to make. You'll never buy store bought again....I hope!

Serve in a bowl sprinkled with extra chopped parsley and the paprika.

Can be used as a dip with crackers, or spread on bread....or eaten with a spoon!

4 comments:

Warty Mammal said...

Thank you! I can't wait to give this a try. (Dare I say "give it a whirl", given that my food processor will be involved?)

My efforts thus far have ranged from ghastly to uninspiring.

Warty Mammal said...

Quick question - do you drain the chickpeas?

Thanks!

molly said...

Very good question! You should drain them but reserve the liquid in case the mixture is too thick, in which case you can add a Tblsp at a time until you have the desired consistency.

Nathalie H.D. said...

I never thought of making my own hommus - now I will, thanks !