Run out of ready made or just looking for a healthy dip to make? Check out this Hummus recipe that will make the taste buds more to crave!

Hummus or as in its homeland is known “chickpeas with tahini” is a Middle Eastern dip made of cooked then mashed chickpeas with tahini sauce, lemon juice and garlic. Naturally, olive oil is added to the spread with occasional parsley and paprika which can further elevate the dish onto a different plane.

The word “Hummus” simply means chickpeas in Arabic so to avoid confusion, the need to indicate that, it’s made with tahini somewhat necessary. Since hummus doesn’t mean much in other languages, not many people have seen adding the “bi-ṭ-ṭaḥīna“ which simply means “with tahini” after the word “hummus” a necessary thing.

Although, the hummus is widely adopted all around the world, there is no standardized name for it with various letters added or taken from the word at will. Some are going as far as calling it the same as humus which is, being the organic matter in the soil, quite different from what we’d like on our plates.

Luckily, the English language tries to separate the wheat from the chaff or rather the chickpeas from the muck and instead of taken out letters, add some extras in, looks like a more popular solution.

Hummus pronunciation isn’t as bad as most foreign word and “Hoom-uhs” in Britain seems like getting quite close to the original. The “HUHM-uhs” in the states aren’t as bad as BMW, sauté or Gyros so we can get away with it too without the need to pull up our phone and check the pronunciation each and every time we want to say it out loud.

On most occasions, hummus isn’t something that’s eaten on its own, except maybe when no one sees us in the kitchen while trying to figure out if we should add more salt to it or not.

Originally, pita bread is one of the most popular ways of dunking hummus up but falafel which are made of chickpeas too or various meats like chicken, fish or grilled vegetables aren’t far behind.

Some regional varieties go as far as replacing olive oil and tahini with yogurt and butter then top the whole thing with toasted bread instead of pita, but if someone has ever heard of chocolate hummus then knows what the world is capable of once rooted something out of its birthplace.

Still, we most likely meet hummus accompanied with crackers or some sort of tortilla chips that can be poured out of a bag without a second thought but we could do so much more with so little effort.

It’s worth to mention that in contrast to falafel, hummus is made of cooked chickpeas that are soaked then processed into a puree. The prepared chickpeas that are readily available for purchase in our favorite stores in bottles may work just as well as our home soaked then cooked ones.

In either case, getting a food processor will well be worth the investment since breaking down chickpeas with a fork or potato ricer could be quite a task, although not impossible. Sure, we can get on with the job with our trusty pestle and mortar, but we may find better use of our time elsewhere than pounding on a pound of chickpeas until creamy and soft.

If we go down on the route of making our own hummus, instead of just buying one then don’t be shy to try out some mindlessly easy, tasty, and also healthy alternatives that can be dipped into our creation like carrots, leeks, cheese or if we feel really adventurous with plenty of time, go wild and make some pita with falafel too!

Ingredients

1 cup / 175g Chickpeas (raw) (about 2½ cup / 375g when soaked)
1 clove / 3g Garlic
½ piece / 25ml Lemon’s juice
1 teaspoon / 5g Salt to taste
4 teaspoons / 20g Tahini
¼ teaspoon / 0.5g Cumin (ground)
1 tablespoon / 4g Olive oil (extra virgin!)
½ teaspoon / 1g Paprika
Fresh parsley for garnish
⅞ cup / 200g Water

How to make Hummus

Rinse chickpeas then submerge them in water and soak overnight.
Cook soaked chickpeas until soft, about 30 – 40 minutes. If canned chickpeas are used, check if they are soft enough and cook them a bit if necessary.
Using a sieve, drain the hummus from the cooking water. It’s not strictly necessary to take the chickpeas out of the cooking water but we can better control the amount of water needed for the hummus.
In a food processor blend together garlic, lemon’s juice, salt, tahini, ground cumin, extra virgin olive oil and paprika.
Add in the chickpeas and blend until a smooth and uniform texture is achieved. Gradually, add water that will help with the mixing process and also creates softer, more spreadable texture. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley, olive oil and / or some paprika.