I have a confession to make, or two actually. The first is that I love hummus. Since I tasted for the first time back in 1997 while visiting Israel for the first time, I have loved it. The second one is, that although I like the homemade kind the best, I have actually never successfully make it myself!
Many years ago, before the kids, when we were just him and me and the cat, we did many culinary experiments with Israeli food which more or less were all fails! Hummus was one of them and another one was Yemenite Calf leg soup which tasted really good at someone else’s house but not so much at ours (I actually still feel a bit nauseous just thinking about it).
Anyway, many things have changed and more than 10 years has passed, so last week I thought it was time to give it another try. The hummus that is, not the soup!
Since our biggest mistake then had to do with soaking and boiling the dried chickpeas, I decide this time, that in order to make the odds for success higher, to use canned chick peas instead. True, it felt a bit like cheating and I will try and do better next time….
It was relatively easy. I used the internet for recipe ideas and eventually made more or less my own version which was accepted by the judges aka the kids. The hummus we ate with vegetable salad and homemade pita breads (because I had the power to make them that day, but store-bought will do just fine).
Anyway, here we go:
What I used
1 can chick peas drained (save the water from the can, though) 0r 300 grams soaked and cooked
About 200 ml tahini
2 cloves of garlic peeled
Juice from ½ a lemon
½ teaspoon cumin
A bit of pepper
About 100 ml of water from the can (or the cooking water)
What I did
In a food processor, mix the chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice and spices for a few minutes until you have a smooth paste. If you think it is a bit too thick, you can add the water and mix again. That’s basically it!
Serve on a plate with a bit of paprika spice and olive oil drizzled on top.
So there you have it, a meal that is also tasty, also healthy and also quite cheap (price overall – about NIS 15/ USD 4).
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