Wednesday 23 July 2008

hummus or humus




What a necessity! It delicious, cheap and easy to make, it goes with so much (filling for jacket potato, pita bread, sandwhiches, dip for veg, or sauce for falafel… children love it and its very healthy!

Ready made hummus will cost you about £1.00 for 100grams in the shops. To make it yourself, will cost you a fraction of that, and you will feel you can be very generous with it, as you will make a big tub! : Your main ingredients are chickpea’s and tahinni, In Unicorn, http://www.unicorn-grocery.co.uk/ 1kg of organic dried chick peas costs £1.35, Tahini (useful in so many recipes) £2.02 in my local ‘The Organic Shop’. These quantities will make a very healthy amount of hummus) If you decide to buy your chickpeas in a tin, you can still make dramatic savings… plus making it yourself, you will make it to your taste.. a little more garlic? a little more lemon? you decide.

I like to add the ingredients as I blend, tasting as I go, and add more garlic or tahinni or lemon…I can’t say I measure ingredients, but do it by feel, however if your new to making it here is a guide:

250g (9oz) chickpeas, soaked overnight
juice of 2-3 lemons
2 or 3 garlic cloves, crushed
6 tablespoons Tahini
4 tbs olive oil
1 tsp paprika (optional) (some people use cumin)

Boil the chickpeas in fresh water until very soft (50mins upwards, depending on the age of them) add a little salt when they begin to soften. Reserve the cooking water and blend the chickpeas with a little of the cooking water. Make a smooth paste. Add two tbs olive oil and the other ingredients (except the paprika) and more cooking water if necessary, to make a soft creamy texture.

To serve, spread the hummus on a plate, sprinkle with remaining oil and the paprika.

And I hope you don’t mind smelling of garlic!

A note about the illustrations, 'chickpeas' mono print please go to http://www.loisblackburn.co.uk/ for more, and 'beer tea trifle bovril' an arthur+martha collaboration. http://www.arthur-and-martha.co.uk/ This is part of a collection called 'scotch terrier, bulldog and a moggy' investigating stereo types of the people British and Israel I hold © to both images.

2 comments:

fredblog said...

I eat hummous in pita bread nearly every day for lunch - but must confess I do buy tubs from Sainsbury's (or my favourite, from Waitrose!) - I have made it myself (from tinned chick peas) in tha past -- must buy some tahini and do it again. Then i won't have the problem of what to do with the empty hummous pots!

fredblog said...

I've finally bought a jar of tahini -- if I use a can of chick peas, how much of the other ingredients should I use?