Satiate Your Midnight Cravings With Easy Homemade Hummus

Hummus is a popular middle eastern dip or spread made with chickpeas. A basic hummus recipe is made with cooked chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil.

This dish is made from cooked, mashed chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon juice, and garlic.

The standard garnish in the Middle East includes olive oil, a few whole chickpeas, parsley, and paprika.

Ingredients

For Pressure Cooking Chickpeas

• ½ cup heaped dried white chickpeas, 120 grams soaked in enough water for 8 to 9 hours or overnight
• 5 cups water
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch of baking soda

Other Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons white sesame seeds or 2 tablespoons tahini
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic or 4 to 5 small to medium garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• salt as required

For Garnishing

• extra virgin olive oil, as required
• red chilli powder or paprika or cayenne pepper – as required
• black pepper powder, as required – optional
• a few sprigs of parsley or coriander leaves (cilantro leaves)

Instructions

Cooking Dried Chickpeas

1. Rinse ½ heaped cup of dried chickpeas (120 grams) in water first and then soak in enough water overnight or for 8 to 9 hours.
2. The next day, rinse the chickpeas in water first a couple of times. Drain all the water and add the chickpeas to a 2-litre stovetop pressure cooker.
3. Add ½ teaspoon salt, 1 pinch of baking soda and 1.5 cups water.
4. Pressure cook on medium heat for 11 to 12 minutes.
5. When the pressure settles down on its own in the cooker, remove the lid and check the chickpeas.
6. Mash them with a spoon or with your fingers. You should be able to mash them completely. They should have no rawness in them. You can even taste them and there should be no bite in them. They should melt in the mouth.
7. If the chickpeas are not cooked properly, then add some more water and pressure cook for some more time. Drain all the water. Cover and keep aside.

Roasting Sesame Seeds

1. Heat a small pan. Keep heat to a low. Add 3 tablespoons of white sesame seeds.
2. On low heat stirring often roast sesame seeds.
3. Roast till they become crisp and start crackling. No need to brown them. Let them cool down.

Making Hummus

1. In a food processor, a mixer-grinder-blender or food chopper takes the roasted sesame seeds.
2. Powder it to a fine or semi-fine texture.
3. Add 1 teaspoon chopped garlic, 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon cumin powder and salt as per taste.
4. 1 tablespoon of lemon juice works fine for us. To increase the tang more, you can add overall 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. So add as per your taste.
5. Add salt as per taste. Do note that the chickpeas will also have some salty taste in them as salt was used when cooking chickpeas. So add less salt first. Later you can add more salt if required.
6. Grind or blend to a fine or semi-fine consistency.
7. Next, add the cooked chickpeas.
8. Grind or blend till smooth and light. If you are unable to grind, then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water.

Serving Hummus

1. Hummus is ready now and all you need is to scrape the jar and place it in a serving bowl or bowls. Make a round pattern with a spoon on the hummus.
2. Drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil. Sprinkle paprika or red chilli powder or black pepper powder or any of your favourite spice powders. You can also sprinkle zatar. Garnish with a few chopped coriander leaves or parsley leaves.
3. Serve it with warm pita bread or with steamed or roasted veggies. The extra hummus can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.