Our guest writer Jessie (aka mscooksalot) has loved cooking and exploring recipes for as long as she can remember. Passionate about real food, she wants to know what’s in it and where it comes from. She believes that food is one of the greatest pleasures in life and can transform your experiences from the forgettable to the sublime.
And this is the perfect recipe to impress your friends.
This week’s recipe is probably the quickest, simplest one I’ve done yet. I love hummus and I make it all the time, but I had never thought to write a recipe for it until the other day. It occurred to me that lots of people probably love eating hummus too, but have never tried to make it themselves. It is actually ridiculously easy and takes all of about 5 minutes to put together! So I thought I’d show you how.
There are only a handful of ingredients, all of which, bar the lemon, can be kept in the cupboard. The only ingredient that might be harder to find is the tahini, which is a paste made from ground sesame seeds. It tastes a bit like peanut butter and you can find it in any Asian supermarket and in lots of delis or specialty shops too.
So in theory, if you stocked up on a few tins of chickpeas, a jar of tahini and some ground cumin, you could make hummus whenever the mood hit you. You can buy dried chickpeas which are even cheaper than the tins, but you have to soak them for 24 hours and then boil them, so I prefer to use tinned ones for convenience.
Ingredients:
1 400g tin of chickpeas
juice of 1 or 2 lemons
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp flaky sea salt or 1/4 tsp fine salt
1 clove of garlic, peeled
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for serving
3 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp water
Method:
Drain and rinse the chickpeas under the tap to get rid of the gloopy water that they come in.
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In a food processor, add the drained chickpeas.
Add the salt, cumin, tahini, olive oil, garlic, water and about 3 tablespoons of the lemon juice.
I used a medium sized lemon that happened to be quite juicy, but they vary a lot, so you may find that you need more than one lemon.
Blitz everything in the food processor for at least two to three minutes. Depending on the chickpeas, you may need to add a bit more water. If so, add a tablespoon at a time, blitz and check again. Ideally you want the hummus to be as light and smooth as possible, so keep blitzing until you get that creamy whipped texture.
Check the hummus for seasoning. You might need to add more salt or more lemon - it’s up to you. You can adjust it your taste.
Decant into a small bowl. With the back of a spoon, make a small well in the centre and drizzle with some olive oil. Serve at room temperature.
I like to serve my hummus with some crunchy vegetables or apple slices and some toasted pitta bread for dipping. To store in the fridge, pour a thin layer of olive oil over the top and cover with cling film. It will keep in the fridge for three or four days.
Enjoy!
Are you tempted to try out this recipe? Do you have any easy-peasy recipes that never fail to impress? We’d love to hear all about them!
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If you’d like to read more from Jessie, you can check out her blog here!
