It has been a long time since I’ve posted a recipe! And one of my favorite things has always been homemade hummus. This recipe is for the “traditional” homemade hummus that I grew up eating, but once you get the basic recipe down, you can add a variety of ingredients to make flavored hummus. (Frankly, I’m not a fan of flavored hummus, but who am I to judge??)
Ingredients:
Garbanzo beans/chick peas – 2 cans
Tahini (sesame seed paste)
Lemon juice (preferably fresh)
Fresh garlic
Salt
Steps:
1. Open the cans of beans and rinse them thoroughly so your hummus doesn’t taste like it came out of can. Add back in about 1/3 of the can (while the beans are still in it) of water.
2. Dump the beans and water into a blender (one can at a time!), and add 1-2 Tbsp of tahini, 1-2 Tbsp of lemon juice, 1-2 cloves of fresh garlic, and 1-3 tsp of salt – this is all to taste. I suggest you start out with the lowest amounts of each ingredient, blend, and then taste your hummus. Adjust as necessary to achieve the taste you want. For my homemade hummus, I use 2 Tbsp tahini, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 2 medium cloves of garlic, and about 2 tsp of salt PER CAN of beans.
3. Blend the ingredients until smooth. You may need to add more cold water if the mixture is too thick to blend, so have some cold water on hand and add it a little at a time. Before you take the hummus out of the blender, taste it! Add/adjust your ingredients until it tastes how you want it to.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for your second (and third, or however many!) can of beans, taste again, and then mix your two batches together in one bowl. If you’re making a large amount, say to take to a party, hummous is very forgiving in that if you over-salt one batch, for example, you can under-salt the next batch to compensate.
Serve:
- Traditionally, hummus is spread in a shallow bowl, and you drizzle olive oil on top, sprinkle a little paprika, and put a sprig of parsley on top. Serve with pita bread.
- You can also serve hummus with vegetables (kind of like a dip), tortilla chips, or anything else that complements the garlicky flavor.
- Finally, try using hummus in place of mayo or other spreads on your sandwiches. It adds flavor and healthy fat to your meal!
If you try this recipe, let me know how it turns out! You can add additional ingredients (i.e., roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, etc.) to change the flavor of the hummus and/or for variety.