Hummus Tahini

Hummus, hummus, let me count the ways...

I have an almost unnatural love for hummus. If you haven't had it, it's a wonderful bean dip made from one of the least beany beans, combined with the paste of sesame seeds, and seasoned just so exquisitely. And it's good on everything—thin it down a bit to go on pita bread at your favorite Mediterranean restaurant, keep it thick and creamy for vegetables, spread it on sandwiches, you name it.

It packs a wonderful protein punch, and I'm sure someone would mention all the great things olive oil does for your heart. And the garlic for your breath (or was that stomach? Hmm). And just so you know I haven't completely lost it, homemade is only vaguely related to the stuff you buy in little plastic containers at the store.

This recipe is based on one my mom chose, but since I always made it double, I'll list it pre-doubled here.

Ingredients

• 30 ounces (or so) chick peas from the can, or about 4 cups from dry
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup sesame tahini
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• salt and pepper (cayenne and black) to taste
• ground cumin, paprika, and/or parsley to serve

Directions

1. Drain chick peas, reserving liquid, and peel the garlic.

2. Throw everything in a food processor, in order, a couple ingredients at a time; reserve some oil to drizzle on top at the end.

3. Process until smooth; if it's too dry, add reserved chick pea liquid, oil, and/or lemon juice. If it's way too wet, add more chick peas or tahini. If you run out, make more.

4. Scrape out into your preferred serving bowl, platter, or plastic storage container, and top with oil, cumin, paprika, and/or parsley.

He said

Yummy. There are so many variants of hummus tahini recipes out there that I can't even begin to tell if there's a “right” ratio of the ingredients, so don't worry about it. If it looks crumbly, it's dry. If it looks like yogurt, you need to use less yellow in your yogurt, but it's also probably too wet; I've never had that problem with the recipe above.

She said

Homemade hummus does not last long around here. We absolutely devour this stuff. It's fun for snacking, and it is so tasty on pita sandwiches.

The first time we made this at my place back in our dating days, we were stuck with just a blender—no food processor in sight. We don't recommend that. Well, at least not with our blender, which doesn't blend anything but mixed icy drinks. The hummus didn't turn out creamy like it does with the right mix of ingredients in the food processor.

If you look closely at that ingredient photo above, you may notice some tumeric. We can't remember whether we actually used any in this batch. You can feel free to skip it.