As requested by mamalen.
I love hummus. It's a high protein, cheap, easy to make and eat snack food for me. Helps me stay on my diet by helping me feel full without hurting my wallet.
Buying it in the store is easy but not really economical so I was asked to write how to make it.
Here goes:
First: I start with one cup of chickpeas (garbanzo beans).
Add then to my crockpot
Cover with water and then let them sit on low overnight (8-12hrs)
Drain and rinse and here we have cooked chickpeas.
Once the chickpeas are all cooked I get the rest of the ingredients together.
I'm sure you can make them out in the photo but :
Oil (I use canola because its cheap, Olive oil is probably better)
Lemon juice (I use lemons if I have them but lemon juice is cheaper)
Sesame seeds (tahini is traditional but hard to find. Peanuts will also work). Black sesame seeds work but the hummus will look terrible. Toasted seeds taste better but I just use regular ones.
Cumin. (fresh if you have it but I use bulk spice)
Garlic.
and a bit of salt.
Now the next steps uses either a blender or food processor. A blender is more work and harder to clean so I use a food processor.
Add 1/2 cup oil.
Add 1/2 cup of lemon juice
Add 1 cup of sesame seeds
Add 1 heaping tablespoonful of Cumin
Add 4-5 cloves of garlic
Add a teaspoonful of salt (or so).
Once all the items are in the food processor turn it on and let it mix everything together into a nice paste.
If you like a nice smooth hummus a blender would be better but if a little chunky is ok then this is so much easier :)
Now add all those chickpeas
Hit the blend button and watch how it goes.
The mix will be too thick to start. A half cup of water goes a long way towards making a nice smooth mixture. However, the amount of water isn't fixed and it doesn't have to be just water.
Add more water if you want thinner hummus.
Add more oil if you want a creamier hummus.
Add more lemon juice if you want it more tart.
But expect to add about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of liquid which the food processor is doing its job.
At the end of a few minutes it should look like this:
Its ready to eat but my final step is to put it into smaller containers.
If I have a big container in the fridge its easy to eat too much and hard to take with me to work.
If I put it in small containers I grab one when I need a snack and a few crackers. When the container is empty its time to stop eating :)
Hope you enjoy!