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Welcome to I Scream Kitchen! This is a blog to inspire you to try new dishes and make your cooking experience a pinch more fun!

Monday 8 April 2013

Classic Hummus



When I used to live in England, I discovered hummus. I used to eat it every day for lunch with a little pack of crackers. My colleagues must have been very happy about the garlic smell! But, it’s absolutely delicious and full of super healthy ingredients. It’s, also, very rich in protein due to the chickpeas and contains a ton of really healthy fatty acids, which lower your cholesterol (don’t fatty acids sound absolutely irresistible, haha) and keep you full for longer. You can also eat it with fresh cut veggies or bread, just dip them in. If you feel more adventurous you can add some more spices and herbs to it. A classic version is with coriander/cilantro (just chop it and stir it with the mixture at the end, otherwise everything will be a weird browny-green colour) or with some powdered cumin. Also, making it takes just minutes if you opt for the canned chickpeas. I usually boil mine, but honestly, it tastes the same. You just need to decide whether you’d like to use something a little more expensive, which takes you a lot less time to prepare, or something cheaper but more time consuming. If you’d like to use dried chickpeas, soak them for at least 2 hours (works best if you soak them overnight) and boil them in plenty of lightly salted water for about 1-1.5 hours, just try one out, should not be chalky.

Plain hummus

Classic hummus recipe:

1 can of cooked chickpeas (or cook them yourself, about 1 full cup when cooked, but they should not be warm)
1 tbsp. tahini paste (this is a sesame seed pate; some people don’t like this, but I think that a little bit is nice)
The juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil and some extra for serving
2 cloves of garlic
Some of the liquid from the can or the water the chickpeas have been boiling in
Paprika powder and salt to taste
Fresh cut vegetables to dip in the hummus (carrots, fresh celery, peppers, radishes, spring onions, cucumbers, etc.) and/or crackers

Preparation:

1. Blitz the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic together in a blender (stick blender works fine, too).

2. To reach a nice consistency, add some of the chickpea juice, I use about 3 tbsp. but it totally depends on your taste how thick it is. I like it the consistency of custard. Add salt to taste, but be careful as most chickpea cans already contain salt or if you boil them with added salt to the water.

3. Serve in a bowl and add some olive oil and paprika powder if you like. Eat with crackers or fresh cut vegetables.

Tipp: As it has fresh garlic in it, it tastes better if you make it a little in advance, so the garlic will release more taste, so it will be a little stronger. Best before a date or a visit to the dentist :D

Classic hummus with olive oil

Hummus with olive oil and paprika

2 comments:

  1. Made it quite a few times now and it is really tasty! ;-)

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    Replies
    1. I'm really glad you like it, Tommy! Something else very exciting is coming up very soon, I think you will enjoy even better ;)

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