Hummus is the arabic word for Chickpeas, or Garbanzo beans. Hummus is traditionally eaten in all parts of the Arab world, and each region makes it a little differently. This is the Lebanese style hummus that we grew up eating, usually with pita bread. Have you ever had a hummus sandwich? Because if you haven’t you are missing out – big time! Hummus was definitely not popular as we were growing up, but now it is a largely popular in the healthy eats industry, and can be found just about anywhere! Although store bought varieties are plentiful these days, nothing will ever beat the homemade version! The fresh ingredients, the simplicity, and the ability to make it exactly to your taste are unbeatable features! Although you can use canned chickpeas, freshly hydrated chickpeas will give you a larger and tastier depth of flavor.
If you’re not convinced of the awesomeness that is Hummus, check out this article by Heba (don’t forget she does have 2 degrees in nutrition after all!) and maybe you’ll be convinced enough to whip up a tasty batch are home!
Hummus {حمص}
Ingredients
- 2 cups chickpeas freshly cooked or canned – liquid reserved
- 1 lemon juiced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tbsp Tahini
- salt to taste
- olive oil for garnish
Instructions
- Add chickpeas to a food processor along with add lemon juice, garlic, tahini and blend; add salt to taste.
- Slowly add reserved liquid until hummus reaches smooth spreadable paste (this could take quite a few minutes!); taste and adjust flavor to preference. You may find you like it with more lemon or garlic.
- Blend one last time, and then you're ready to plate and serve!
- Serve drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with paprika
Mine has olive oil IN it, and i fry garlic before adding to hummus(well actually it’s better to roast in in the oven for an hour, but i use my lazy and quick variation of making garlic sweet and soft), and definitely more than one clove. I also add some Cayenne pepper to it. I also prefer to give chick peas a good 24 hr soak before boiling – makes them more suitable for human consumption )) I used to add water from boiled chick peas too but got complaints about my hummus not being thick enough to hold olive oil on top of it 😀
mmm the roasted garlic sounds amazing! Normally we put more garlic, but for the purposes of suiting all taste buds in this recipe we kept it at one.
Great point about using the water from the boiled chickpeas to thin out the Hummus. That’s actually better than using water because of the flavor, but if you are using canned chickpeas then I wouldn’t suggest using the canned chickpea water!
Soaking is a good method too, to soften them 🙂 Thanks for the comment Amina!
Where did you get that tahini paste??
HEy where can I get that tahini paste from Toronto??
Depends where you are located, but in most cases you can get it at a Middle Eastern market. We get ours from Arz Bakery on Lawrence & Pharmacy
I also have seen some at Costco!
salam alaykoum sisters, i live in France and i would like to know the equivalence of 2 cups (of chick peas) because we don’t use “cups” here to cook..
thanks for all
ramadan Moubarak!!
yummy
I love these recipes you have been posting. I’m also Lebanese, but left for USA at an early age. I also have another thing in common with you, which is, I’m also a graphic designer (the old fashion way, no computers involved)😀. I have tried to make these Lebanese favorites in my spare times, and yet, no matter what, it never tastes like the foods in Lebanon! However, I was in Beirut last summer and had absolutely great time, since I had not been there for over thirty years. I must say Beirut was changed some good and some not. But the food was the same as I remembered. I would definitely try your version of these recipes, they look great. I want to make hummus the old fashion way, like in Lebanese restaurants. No fancy stuff, like roasted garlic, avocado etc. I’m somewhat of a purist I guess. Again, many thanks to all your efforts.