Home-made humous

I love humous! But the ones from supermarkets are full of preservatives and other ingredients which I cannot even pronounce aka in my world it means chemicals and not good for you. Simple!

I tried doing the recipe with tinned chickpeas. It worked ok but then I did with dried chickpeas and I am not going back to tins ever again. Many of us think dried beans/lentils/chickpeas etc. are too complicated and take too much time. But actually they are the simplest ingredients to work/cook with. All you need to do is to soak them for 8-12 hours or overnight.

Here is the simplest humous recipe ever.

–          300g chickpeas – dried, soaked overnight
–          Big bunch of fresh coriander (I also had some leftovers of fresh parsley)
–          2 chillies – go for hot ones, like bird eye chillies (take the seeds out)
–          1 lemon juice – plus the zest of it
–          3 tablespoons tahini
–          1 tablespoon sesame seeds
–          ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
–          ½ teaspoon paprika (I used smoked)
–          Virgin Olive oil – a good splash or two
–          Salt

Instruction

Cook chickpeas as per pack instruction. I leave them soaking overnight which doesn’t require much effort apart from putting chickpeas in a bowl and pour cold water over them. Please, anyone can do that!

Once chickpeas are cooked (takes about 30-35 minutes), leave to cool in their cooking water (!). Then put them in the food processor, with other ingredients and some (5tbsp) of the kept chickpeas cooking water. Mix, taste, season if required, mix, taste. Perfect!

Tip: if you think more salt is needed, try adding more lemon juice first. Lemon brings the flavours out much more and you will avoid adding unnecessary sodium to your food! Genius!
Done! Easier doesn’t get it!

Humous will keep in the fridge for about 5 days (in our house it rarely makes it past 3). Serve with rye bread or ryvitta, celery, carrots, cucumber, peppers. Or I put it over green leaves (with extra splash of tabasco – yup I love it hot!).

Did you know that chickpeas are high in protein which is essential for recovery! But also good source of isoflavones (plant chemical) which can help to prevent hormon-related conditions incl. PMS and breast cancer. They also helping stabilize blood sugar. Rich in antioxidant vitamin E, which promotes the ability of white blood cells to fight infection. Chickpeas are also rich in zinc, iron, B Vitamins, Calcium and carbohydrate. So clearly chickpeas are Super-Food!

And Cayenne Pepper: is effective in treatment of arthritis, asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney infection and other respiratory problems. Come on spice your food/life a bit!

Happy cooking!

Irina