Home-made Hummus

I have loved hummus for a long time. Its delicious and has the added advantage of being really good for you. My little one is completely addicted to it and would happily scoff a whole pot of it with some crudites. In fact she did this evening. When she heard I was making hummus she begged to be able to help and to have her favourite snack for supper and she snaffled quite a bit of it.

Over the years I have tried a few recipes for hummus (many completely unsuccessful!) I have come to the conclusion that many of the recipies I made in the past were quicky recipies and were lazy versions so as a result were not up to scratch for me. I dreamed of being able to make a hummus as delicious as the one served in one of my favourite resteraunts "Marroush" - I can't mention the place without my mouth watering for one of thier hot chicken and garlic flatbread sandwiches. I'll be eternally greateful to Ali and Wissam for introducing me to Marroush and to Middle Eastern Cuisine when I was at college.

Through my hit and miss attempts at making it, I have discovered that authentic hummus is always made from well cooked chick peas (known as garbanzo beans to some) and many of the quicky recipies I had tried involved tinned chick peas uncooked. YUK! This often results in a too starchy stiff unpleasantly sour hummus.
So I now make it from dried chickpeas (ok I know they need soaking over night - but really how hard is it to pop them in a dish of water and soak them?) I also discovered that an authentic hummus does not contain both olive oil and tahini. It has one or the other. Now feel free to add what makes it to your taste, but if you want to be authentic then try the two differing flavours, its worth a try. Traditional hummus' real full name would be Hummus bi Tahine! If you are on a weight loss programme you might go for Hummus with Tahini and no Olive oil as opposed to the Hummus with Tahini and Olive oil option, although bear in mind the calories in the tahini!

Home-made Hummus


1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas(garbanzo beans)
1/4 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/2 cup lemon juice
Olive oil, Parsley, Paprika, Roasted Garlic or Cumin to garnish

Soak the chickpeas overnight in water. Drain the water, heat in a pan with enough water to cover by at least one inch add a pinch of salt. If you have the patience you can peel the outer skins off each chickpea (a simple squeeze will do it) This will take most of the bitterness from your hummus and make it very smooth. Bring to a boil, skim any residue off the surface, then simmer until the chickpeas are tender, this should take about 1 1/2 hours.

N.B. For quickie Hummus with tinned chickpeas as above but you will only need to simmer the chickpeas for abour 15 minutes.

I have found that using raw garlic gives a fresher tate, whereas roasted garlic gives a much richer, gentler taste. So depending on your taste choose either roasted or raw garlic to use below. If you have the time use my roasted garlic recipe below and squeeze a few roasted cloves into your hummus mix in place of the raw garlic cloves.

Crush your garlic, add the tahini (you may prefer to use a similar amount of extra virgin olive oil if you prefer tot he tahini) and lemon juice and either with a mortar and pestle or a food processor create a smooth sauce. Add the chickpeas and whizz with a food processor (keep the cooking liquid) the longer you process this the better and smoother your end result will be! Add the liquid a bit at a time to achive the consistency you prefer. Authentic hummus is quite liquid not at all clumpy or solid as some shop bought , dry hummus seems to be.You may prefer for taste to use a mixture of cooking liquid and extra virgin olive oil to thin. It really depends on your taste buds.

To serve: In Middle Eastern Cuisine hummus is spread in a shallow bowl and served with a drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with cumin, paprika, whole chick peas or pasrley. Serve with pitta bread, flat bread and crudites.

Another variation I like is to toast about 1 tsp of cumin seeds in a pan and crush them in with the tahini and garlic. This gives a different but delicious taste.

I hope you enjoy it. Miss Small and I adore it - and it has helped her to begin enjoying raw vegetables our favourites include chopped carrots, bell pepper sticks, sugar snap peas, cucumber, brocilli spears, cauliflower spears, all sorts really. We love to eat this with cous cous, quino, jacket potatoes, salads and all sorts of other delicious stuff.

Here is also my Roasted Garlic Recipe. Its gorgeous fresh from the oven, squidged over vegetables, added to hummus, eaten with Mezze. All in all its mouth watering. It can also be made int oa sauce and will keep for a couple of weeks in a jar in the fridge.

Roasted Garlic

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulb skin. Leave the inner skins of each clove intact. Slice off the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic.

Use a cupcake or muffin pan and place a garlic head in each hole. Drizzle olive oil over each garlic head, smear to make sure each head is covered well. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 200C / 400F / GM 6 for about 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves are tender.

once you have doen this you can use it a a huge range of dishes. Even if you thought you did not like garlic, roating it makes it sweeter and much more delicious. You might find you are converted!!