Hummus
Hummus
is a Middle Eastern and Arabic food. It can be used as a dip or as spread,
whichever way you like. ‘Hummus’ is basically an Arabic word, which
means chickpeas in English, ‘Channa’ (चना) in Hindi. Hummus is high
in Iron, Vitamin C and Protein.
Ingredients
§ Chickpeas (चना) – 500 gms (Boiled)
§ Tahini –
¼ cup (approximately 60 ml) or ½ cup (Refer Tip *)
§ Lemon Juice –
¼ cup (approximately 8 to 10 tbsp)
§ Garlic cloves –
2 medium size
§ Salt to taste –
approximately ½ tsp
§ Black pepper –
¼ tsp
§ Water –
3 to 4 tbsp
§ Red chili powder – pinch of it for garnishing
§ Extra virgin olive oil – 2 tbsp for garnishing
Method
1.
Mince garlic thoroughly till
you see it releasing its oil. This helps garlic to release its subtle flavor in
Hummus, while it’s being processed into the processor. Keep the minced garlic aside.
2.
Into a clean and dry food
processor, pour in Tahini and lemon juice. Process it for a minute. (Refer Tip **)
3.
Now add the minced garlic,
black pepper powder, salt and chickpeas. Pulse the ingredients for a minute.
Scrape the sides and the bottom of the container, to bring in all the
ingredients together.
4.
At this stage the mixture
will be quite coarse and very thick.
5.
Start the processor again and
pour in water gradually. You can increase or decrease the amount of water
depending upon the consistency you need.
6.
Keep processing it, till you
achieve a nice whipped creamy consistency.
7.
Transfer the thick hummus
onto a plate. Spread it a bit and garnish it with olive oil and red chili
powder. If you want to add extra color to it, garnish it with some fresh
parsley leaves too!!
Serving
Serve with hot pita bread or
whichever bread you like, with salads, rolls or anything with which you would
love to have it with J. You can use it as a dip too.
Tip
* Balance
of ingredients is necessary to reach the perfect creamy consistency. You can
increase the amount of Tahini to half a cup, if you like your spreads with more
fat content to get even more dense results.
** Mixing Tahini and
lemon juice as a first step, gives the extra creamy texture to Hummus.
*** I
have not used olive oil while processing hummus, but have used water instead. Initially
I used to think that processing it with olive oil will give it more texture and
creaminess but when I made it without it, it came to my surprise that the oil
it had no effect on the texture and it didn't do anything for the consistency
either. Instead, water helped the ingredients to release its flavors more and
also helped in easy blending and reaching the desired creamy whippy.... consistency.
Try this recipe and share your comments and/or suggestions.
