If you, like me, love chickpeas, you absolutely must try hummus, a completely vegetarian sauce with a more or less dense consistency, spicy, with a unique scent and flavor, fabulous, delightful, delicious. Am I exaggerating? Maybe, but it is truly exquisite whether eaten on its own or paired with pasta, rice, meats, fish, cheese, and fried foods (instead of mayonnaise or ketchup). It is prepared rather quickly if you already have the chickpeas and tahini ready (besides chickpeas, it’s the other fundamental ingredient for making hummus and can also be made at home simply and quickly). Chickpea hummus can be prepared in all seasons; it is very versatile, does not contain gluten or lactose, milk proteins, or eggs. This is the hummus as we like it.
Bon appetit
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very cheap
- Rest time: 15 Minutes
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Cooking time: 7 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 14 oz cooked chickpeas
- 3.5 oz tahini paste
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- to taste sweet paprika
- to taste fresh chopped chives (optional)
- to taste fine salt
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 7 oz white sesame seeds
- to taste extra virgin olive oil (or sesame oil)
- 2.5 fl oz lemon juice
Tools
- 1 Food Processor
Steps
To make the hummus, we can use either chickpeas boiled by us or canned ones.
In both cases, the chickpeas must be perfectly drained from the cooking or preserving liquid (personally, I do an additional step in the case of canned chickpeas, that is, after draining them, I rinse them under running water).
Let’s start with making the tahini paste.
Pour the white sesame seeds into a large non-stick pan and toast them for a few minutes over low heat on the smallest burner (I usually take 7/8 minutes), stirring them occasionally with a metal spoon to prevent them from burning. The color of the toasted seeds doesn’t change much compared to the untoasted ones.
As soon as the sesame aroma is noticeable and the seeds begin to stick to the metal spoon, turn off the heat and immediately transfer the seeds to the bowl of a hand blender (or an immersion blender suitable for small quantities) and let them cool for 5/7 minutes.
After the time has passed, pour three or four generous tablespoons of oil (I use extra virgin olive oil, but many recipes call for sesame oil to give a more pronounced flavor to the tahini paste) and start blending everything until you get a semi-dense, pasty, and especially smooth mixture. Add more oil gradually, until reaching the desired consistency.
If the tahini paste will only be used to make hummus, you can adjust its consistency by adding lemon juice at this stage (without having to add it later during the hummus preparation), so you will avoid using too much oil.
Now let’s move on to the actual preparation of the chickpea hummus
Transfer the boiled and drained chickpeas to a food processor, add the tahini paste and all the other ingredients (except the spices and oil that we will pour in gradually until reaching the consistency of a dense, smooth, and velvety cream both aesthetically and on the palate). The garlic, preferably, should be added without the inner sprout.
Blend until you get a smooth mixture, without chickpea skins, dense but not hard (in this case, just add a few tablespoons of hot water to the mixture) nor liquid (in this case, just add a little more chickpeas).
Taste and adjust for salt and oil if necessary.
Finally, add a quarter of a teaspoon of cumin, 5 strands of chopped chives, and half a teaspoon of sweet paprika, mix with a spoon, and serve, adding another drizzle of oil over the hummus. Hummus keeps in a well-sealed glass jar in the fridge for two or three days.
The spices can also be blended together with the other ingredients; I prefer to add them later, to avoid overpowering all the other flavors and to allow other diners to add the ones they prefer most.
Cumin can be replaced by freshly chopped parsley.
