Well over two decades ago, I was invited to snoop around in the kitchen of a well known local Greek Cypriot restaurant (Hummus is NOT a Greek-Greek dish). I was then shown how they made their hummus, and I did my own according to that recipe ever since. To my mind, once you tased fresh flavours you really do not want commercial artificial flavoured hummus any more.
Unfortunately I was never given the measurements, so I played around it to my liking. (suffice it to say that I probably use more garlic, lemon and olive oil than most people …)
The main ingredient is chick-peas – in some countries they are called gabanzo beans. You can use a tin/can of chick-peas, but it’s not the same as freshly cooked yourself
Here are the basic ingredients:
* chick-peas, picked clean and soaked overnight* cloves of garlic, chopped / minced
* ( 2 ) tablespoons Tahini / Sesame paste
* Juice of 1 and a half freshly squeezed lemons
* 4 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
* some chick-pea cooking liquid or water
* Good quality Sea Salt according to taste
well, as I said, I tend not to measure the ingredients, just check the taste as I go and then adjust accordingly.
To garnish
* drizzle over some more olive oil
* A little cayenne pepper or paprika
* A little cayenne pepper or paprika
Preparation
Rinse the chick-peas. Cover with plenty of water in a large pan, bring to the boil and skim until clear. Cover and cook until soft: in a pressure cooker they will take 15-20 minutes; otherwise a little over 1 hour, according to their age. Strain the chick-peas, reserving the cooking liquid.
Then add all the ingredients into a food blender / processor. Adjust the amounts of oil and lemon juice, water as you go along. Mine usually has loads of olive oil, and of course more garlic than most people would prefer.
After a while you get the consistency and flavour to suit your taste.
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