Salad dressings & dips
Hummus
Eat as a dip with crudités; spread in pittas; top with fried minced lamb and onions, or hard-boiled eggs and broad beans for a lovely light meal. To cut corners with this dish, use tinned rather than dried chickpeas and omit the soaking and cooking. If your tinned chickpeas are good, it won't make too much difference. This recipe is a basic starting point. Add the seasonings slowly, tasting all the time. Then you can also experiment with adding paprika, chilli flakes, za'atar or sumac, olives, sun-dried tomatoes or roasted red peppers. You can also lighten your hummus by adding a spoonful of Greek yoghurt.
Ingredients
- 225g chickpeas, soaked overnight
- 2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 tbsp tahini
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp orange juice
- 2-4 tbsp chickpea water
- ½ tsp ground cumin (optional)
- pinch paprika
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Drain the chickpeas and cover with fresh water. Bring to the boil then simmer until very soft (about 2 hours). Remove any foam that forms with a perforated spoon.
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Step 2
Tip into a colander and drain, reserving the liquid and leave chickpeas to cool.
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Step 3
Blend or mash the chickpeas with the remaining ingredients. Add more lemon juice if necessary and add enough of the reserved liquid to give a soft dropping consistency, not too runny. It is a good ideas to add the liquids little by little as the amount needed will mysteriously vary with each batch of chickpeas.
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Step 4
Adjust the seasoning. Add a little freshly ground cumin if you like (toasting lightly in a dry pan before grinding will help to bring out the aroma).
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Step 5
Garnish with a sprinkling of paprika, and a drizzling of olive oil.
