Hummus

Last week I decided to make my own hummus. I used to be able to buy it in powdered form from the bulk bins at Sprouts, then I just had to mix it with water and olive oil; however, they're no longer selling it that way. And the pre-made stuff is a bit pricey for the small amount you get.

I decided to do this totally from scratch, which means I cooked dry chickpeas first, rather than using canned. This time I didn't burn them. My recipe wound up making approximately 6 cups of hummus, so I divided it into 3 batches and froze 2 of them. Hummus is surprisingly easy to make (assuming you have a food processor or blender), and making it from scratch using dried chickpeas wound up being rather inexpensive. The only really expensive ingredient was the tahini, which I paid about $6 for. The tin of tahini has at least 3 and maybe 4 portions in it for my hummus recipe, so I guess that comes out to $1.50-$2 per batch. That still isn't too bad.



The recipe:

6 cups chickpeas (canned or cooked)
1/2 cup sesame butter (tahini)
1/2-1 cup lemon juice
4-5 cloves of garlic
1-1/2 tsp. salt

Drain the chickpeas, reserving some of the liquid. Place chickpeas in blender or food processor and puree. Alternately add the tahini and lemon juice; continue pureeing. Add garlic and salt; blend until smooth. Sauce should be thick and smooth. If it's too thick, thin it with some of the chickpea liquid. (You can add a bit of olive oil if you like.)

*The only things I would do differently next time is to add a bit of olive oil and use a little less lemon juice. My lemon juice is organic, and it's very strong. (ReaLemon brand is like water compared to my organic stuff!) This means my hummus wound up a tad more lemon-y than I'd like. But overall, this recipe is fantastic!