Hummus - one very famous Middle Eastern specialty dip. It’s also spelled as humous, humus, houmos etc. The basic ingredients are cooked chickpeas, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Tahini or sesame paste is also added to the dip. Chopped parsley, cilantro, olives, jalapenos, caramelized onions, whole chickpeas, olive oil, boiled eggs, paprika, tomato and cucumber are some popular garnishes to the dip. Hummus is served as an appetizer or as a dip along with pita bread or as part of a meze or as an accompaniment to falafel (patties made of ground chickpeas or fava beans). It’s also served with crackers or tortilla chips in other parts of the world. – Source, Wikipedia.
I must confess, I am not much of an adventurous eater and hardly venture out of my comfort zone. Put the world cuisine before me and I am most likely to stick to just a few familiar ones I love to eat over and over again. Not very surprisingly, I never asked for my first taste of this lovely dip. But when I did taste it, I was surprised I actually liked it! I loved the creamy consistency, the flavor of olive oil and garlic in it. Discovered it’s quite easy to make at home and pretty versatile too, so had to try my hand at making this versatile dip.
Doesn't the above image remind you of Arabian Nights? I loved my new acquisition...its going to star in more of my pictures:-)
Here is how I made the dip. Recipe adapted from various sources. Apart from the basic ingredients, most of the other ingredients can be changed to suit personal taste and preference. So please do go by your taste.
The below quantities, I realized, makes quite a lot of Hummus, say approximately 3 cups.
Hummus (Without tahini)
Ingredients:
Chickpeas: 1 cup, soaked overnight.
Olive oil – ¼ to ½ cup
Yogurt – ½ cup
Roasted garlic – 5-6 large pods
Red Chilli powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Lemon juice – 1 teaspoon (You can add much more, if you like the dip tart or can balance with enough chilli or pepper powder)
Salt to taste
Procedure: Cook the chick peas till very soft in a pressure cooker. I like to add a pinch of cooking soda to the peas when I cook them. Drain and cool the peas completely. Reserve some for garnish if using.
Grind the chickpeas, roasted garlic, salt and ¼ cup of yogurt in a food processor or a mixie jar. Run for a minute. Add ¼ cup of olive oil, chilli powder. Process till smooth.. You could add more oil if needed. (Makes it more tastier of course!)Transfer the dip from the food processor. Add the lemon juice. Check and adjust seasoning. Add the chopped parsley and mix well. Add garnish of your choice.
Now isn't that real easy? Of course canned chickpeas or boiled frozen ones can make this even more of a breeze. We ate the dip with some home-made crackers.
Next to try, hummus with tahini...
