Hummus (base recipe)

In recent years there has been a real boom in Mediterranean cuisine, especially that of the Middle East. Hummus is a symbol of this.

Let me be direct, I'm not a fan of the global vegan trend. And to tell you the truth, I hated hummus as a child.

Meat and potato

I grew up in an Eastern European food environment. Mediterranean or even vegan were complete foreign words. Even cooking with olive oil was a rarity.

Olive Oil was "exotic"

Even our trips to Israel or North Africa did not bring Mediterranean food into our home kitchen. In addition, a meal without meat was basically just a snack.

Trips to hummus restaurants

This has changed completely in the last years. In the meantime it is already the case that I take a detour for hummus when I travel to Israel. Even in the supermarkets hummus is now offered everywhere, still with the "oriental" touch, although the use of cumin is actually not enough to call something "oriental".

Try your own

I have been preparing my own hummus for some time now, because the varieties i buy are usually not that good and the preparation is really easy. Here in the basic version i do without ingredients that "pimp" the hummus, like parsley or beetroot. I also do without fava beans (ful), which I pass on at a later date.

Precooked versus dried

You can of course start one night before by washing the uncooked chickpeas and leave them over night in water and then boil them for 45 minutes till one hour.

Tip: Cook the canned chickpeas

I choose the version with canned chickpeas. I found out that the difference is often too small to notice and as you see in the recipe I also cook the canned chickpeas to get rid of any possible metallic taste.

Ingredients

For 4 people:

250 g chick peas (one can of precooked chick peas)

50 g tahini paste (sesame paste)

2 garlic cloves

4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tea spoon of salt

½ tea spoon of cumin

100 ml ice cold water

Preparation

Drain the can of chickpeas and pour them into a pan, adding water until all chickpeas are drowned. Boil the chickpeas for 5 to 10 minutes, drain the water. Put the chickpeas back into the pot.

Add all ingredients to the chickpeas. Do not add all the water at once. Start by mixing the chickpeas and add water if you want the past to be more fluid. Mix until the texture is smooth.

Small tip: You can add some cubes of ice instead if the water. The mixer will be able to mix the ice in, since the chickpeas are hot. The ice will give the hummus a smoother texture.