Hummus is like a blank canvas, works well with carrots, cucumbers, crackers, bread, and even our humble roti as a spread.
Ingredients
FOR THE TAHINI
- 1 cup sesame seeds
- 2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil
- Pinch of salt
FOR THE HUMMUS
- 2 cups boiled chickpeas (soak 1 cup chickpeas overnight and pressure cook them in 1 tsp salt and some water the next morning. Drain and keep the water of the chickpeas.)
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- ¼ cup tahini
- Few garlic cloves, minced
- 2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for serving
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- Salt to taste
- Ground paprika or sumac, for serving
Directions:
STEP 1: Making the tahini
- Add sesame seeds to a wide, dry saucepan over medium-low heat and toast, stirring constantly until the seeds become fragrant and very lightly colored (not brown), 3 to 5 minutes. Careful here, sesame seeds can burn quickly. Transfer toasted seeds to a large plate and cool completely.
- Add sesame seeds to the bowl of a food processor then process until a crumbly paste, about 1 minute.
- Add 3 tablespoons of the oil then process for 2 to 3 minutes more, stopping to scrape the bottom and sides of the food processor a couple of times.
- Check the tahini’s consistency. It should be smooth, not gritty, and should be pourable. You may need to process for another minute or add the additional tablespoon of oil.
- Taste the tahini for seasoning then add salt to taste. Process 5 to 10 seconds to mix it in.
STEP 2: Making the hummus
- To the tahini bowl, add lemon juice and process for 1 minute, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl then process for 30 seconds more.
- Add the olive oil, minced garlic, cumin, and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the whipped tahini and lemon juice. Process for 30 seconds, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl then process another 30 seconds or until well blended. Add half of the drained chickpeas to the food processor and process for 1 minute. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl, then add remaining chickpeas and process until thick and quite smooth; 1 to 2 minutes.
- The hummus will be too thick or still have tiny bits of chickpea. To fix this, slowly add 2 to 3 tablespoons of the chickpeas water until you reach the perfect consistency.
- Taste for salt and adjust as needed.
- Serve hummus with a drizzle of olive oil and a dash of paprika.
Tips:
If you love a strong garlic flavor in hummus, you might want to increase the number of garlic cloves as you prefer.