Hummus
19Welcome to another installment of “Things Elly Didn’t Used to Like but Kept Trying Until She Did.”
Chapter 6: Hummus.
Don’t get me wrong – I never hated it, or anything of the sort. I was just never that crazy about it. Despite my affinity for beans (another food I didn’t enjoy until later in life), I’ve never really taken to the garbanzo. I can’t tell you how much I wish I loved hummus. Who doesn’t love it? No one I associate with, that’s for sure. I grew up in an area with a very large Arabic population, and I’m surprised our school lunches didn’t come with a side of hummus. It’s incredibly healthy, especially when you are pairing it with something like vegetables. And it’s always the appetizer people want, so I go along with it, but wish we’d ordered something else. I try a little bit and am usually pretty underwhelmed.
After trying hummus over and over again I realized I liked it most when it had a decent amount of sesame and garlic flavor to it (which makes sense, since I’m just lukewarm on the garbanzo). It’s not that this doesn’t taste like chick peas – of course it does – but I just think the sesame flavor comes through maybe a tad more than your standard hummus. I do use a Middle Eastern brand of tahini, which seems a tad stronger than the kind in the regular grocery store, but it just may be a coincidence.
We ate this with chicken shawarma and also on its own with some pita I lightly oiled and stuck under the broiler.
I’m happy to take hummus off my Do Not Like list. 🙂
Hummus
1 can chick peas/garbanzo beans, drained with liquid reserved
1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 cup tahini
2 Tbsp. good quality extra virgin olive oil and additional for finishing
1 lemon, juiced
sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
sumac or paprika, for finishing (optional)
Add the chick peas, garlic, tahini, olive oil, and lemon juice into a food processor. Pulse until combined, and then stream in some of the reserved chick pea liquid until smooth (about 3 Tbsp.). Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with an additional drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle of paprika.
Elly, I’m with you… I can take or leave the store bought kind… but homemade hummus is the best! Thanks for posting your version! I plan on trying it next week.
What is it that you put on your “do not make list”? The chicken shawarma or the toasted pita?
I love Sabra hummus – so creamy and tasty. But your recipe sounds pretty easy.
Ooh, I meant I had hummus on my do not make list, because I never really liked it. Maybe I should reword that – shawarma and pitas are definitely both worth making. 🙂
I love how easy this comes together with a can of chickpeas and a few other ingredients. IU find hummus very addictive!
I just did a version of that with beetroot. Check it out!
I am sitting here eating hummus as I read this post. I love it. This recipe sounds easy enough and the perfect thing for my new food processor. You should try it with some roasted red peppers which give it great flavor. What we have in the house now has a little spinach and artichoke in it. Yummy!
I love, love, love hummus! But you must try making it with dry beans. It’s ten times better (but then again, takes 10 times longer to make). I just made some green onion- avocado hummus last night.
I love hummus. A light but satisfying recipe with flavor! We don’t get canned chickpeas, otherwise I would be making this every day.
I agree, I think really tahini-full hummus is the way to go. There’s a hummus bar across the street from my apartment that uses TONS of tahini and their hummus addicting. I made a white bean dip recently that maybe you would like…it’s filled with a lot of middle eastern spices…not really hummus-like at all!
I enjoy a nice garlicky hummus as well Elly:D
I’ve tried various recipes and store bought hummus. I didn’t like any of it until I tried Sabra brand. MMMM! The only other hummus I’ve found I like since I discovered Sabra was from a restaurant called The Holy Land.
Last month I threw out a 2 year old container of Tahini hiding in the back of my fridge. Ew. I figured if it was that old I should prob give up on making hummus from scratch.
Glad to hear you’ve found a good recipe though!
Elly, I was like you a few years ago with respect to chickpeas…didn’t groove well with them. Now? Love them…healthy, cheap, easy to cook with and delish!
Looks gorgeous!
I always liked ckickpeas and hummus, but I REALLY got to like my homemade version of hummus when I swapped canned beans for dry and roasting them (after soaking) first, and then didn’t puree them too smooth, leaving a little bit of chunk. That made a big difference to me.
Roasting the chickpeas sounds delicious, Rosemary! I’ll have to try the version with dried next time.
I’ve had plenty of boring versions of hummus. I tend to kick mine up a bit with diced roasted red peppers and a little habanero. Pine nuts are amazing with the roasted red pepper also. Their richness and crunch are delicious!!
This was a really nice hummus recipe, Elly. Thank you for sharing it. I made it exactly as you wrote it (I used a middle eastern brand tahini also, which I like better and is a lot CHEAPER in the middle eastern grocer than it is in the regular grocery store). Then I divided it in half and pureed roasted red peppers into half of it, so I had some plain garlicky hummus (I like my hummus garlicky too) and some roasted red pepper garlicky hummus. Both were delicious. I actually liked your recipe better than mine. Glad I tried it!
I stumbled upon your blog about 3 months ago when searching for the perfect Greek salad dressing recipe. And I’ll tell you this, Elly: I found it here! So thanks (to you AND your dad!) 🙂
Hi Jill. I’m so glad you liked the hummus and dressing recipes! Thanks for visiting my blog. 🙂
I’d add a small spoonful of Arabic spices, and some cumin too. That gives it the typical Lebanese flavour.