Hummous with Tahini

on Jul 08 in Gluten Free, Natural grey sea salt, Snacks & Sides, Starters, Vegan, Vegetarian

This is a quick, tasty and easy dip to make.  It is an essential ingredient for any vegetarian buffet as well as being delicious and healthy.  No cooking is required, just blend ‘n’ go.

The combination of chickpeas and home-made tahini make a really tasty appetizer, serve with warm pitta bread triangles.

The secret to a great hummus is to encourage the flavour of the chickpeas to come through and not let the lemon overpower the dish, so gentle on the lemon.

This will take about 10 minutes to prepare and make and you will need:

• 2½     cups    tinned chickpeas – drained and well rinsed
• 1/3     cup     freshly squeezed lemon juice (easy on this, add in stages)
• ¼       cup     home-made tahini
• 2        clvs     garlic – crushed I prefer to use 3 cloves roasted garlic
• 1-2     tbls     olive oil
• ½       tsp      ground cumin
• ½       tsp      cayenne pepper
• Good pinch of freshly ground black pepper
• 1        tsp      natural grey sea salt
• 1/3     cup     water
• Parsley and olive oil to garnish

Preparation:

1Put ½ the lemon juice and all ingredients into the blender except the chickpeas (and the parsley and oil for garnish) and blend for 5 seconds, scrape down the bowl and blend again.  Scrape down the bowl and add the chickpeas and blend on high for 10 – 15 seconds, until the mixture reaches the consistency of sour cream, but coarser.  Blend in the remaining lemon juice to taste.

2If the hummous is too thick and you don’t want to add more lemon juice, add a little water slowly and blend on high until it reaches the correct consistency.

3Scrape into your serving dish, cover with cling film and refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving, this improves the flavour.

4To serve drizzle some of the remaining olive oil over the top and garnish with fresh parsley leaves and some black olives.