Since a dear friend introduced me to hummus, I have been preparing it quite often. The word originates from the Arabic and means “chickpea”. It is an oriental specialty consisting of pureed chickpeas and sesame paste. It goes great together with roasted vegetables (e.g. potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and beetroot) or pita bread. If you would like hummus as a main dish for four people, use 360 g cooked chickpeas. You can use the chickpea water for Chocolate Mousse.

Ingredients (4 people as appetizer):

• 80 g dried or 240 g cooked chickpeas
• 2 TBSP Tahini (sesame paste)
• 2 TSP lemon juice or more to taste
• ½ clove of garlic
• ½ TSP salt or more to taste
• pepper to taste
• ¼ TSP ground cumin (for better digestion)
• 3 TBSP water
• cooked chickpeas and extra virgin olive oil as garnish

Instructions:

1. Soak the dried chickpeas in cold water for 24 h. Change the water at least twice. Rinse well. Cook the chickpeas in a pressure cooker for 20 min. or boil them for 2-3 h in a pot on low heat and remove the foam occasionally.
2. Peel the chickpeas by rubbing the warm chickpeas with your hands slightly against each other. It helps to do this in a pot filled with water. The peel float on top and can be poured off easily. This makes the hummus even creamier.
3. Blend the still warm chickpeas with the rest of the ingredients. Still a bit warm hummus tastes better than cold.
4. Stored in the fridge in an airtight container, the hummus will last for several days.

Get creative:

• Use red, black or white beans instead of chickpeas.
• Use sunflower seeds, avocado or nut butter instead of tahini.
• Use other spices (e.g. curry, basil, chilli).
• Mix in a roasted red pepper or boiled beetroot. For this, leave out the water.