Heavenly Hummus

A few days ago, I decided to make my weekly trip to the local grocery store. I got a few things that I wanted needed to have as well as a few extras. As I was venturing down the section of fresh cheeses, I noticed the small area where the hummus was kept. I hadn’t had any for so long so I decided to pick up a jar to throw in my cart. I did some more shopping and found some great organic pita chips to go along with the jar of heaven I had just picked up and made my way to the front cash register. One by one, items were being rung up and then came time for the hummus. This was the one thing in the cart that I had been cooing over for the extent of my trip. The cashier rung it up and said “$7.99”. I thought I had just had a mini heart attack. Almost 8 dollars for a jar of crushed chick peas? I ended up buying it anyway but was utterly disgusted that I had just spent so much money. When I got home and finished unloading the groceries that I had just spent a small fortune on, I sat down to my computer. There were multiple recipes for hummus but none that I felt would be as good as the jar I had just bought. I surfed the web while munching on the pita chips and hummus only to find that the “jar of heaven” I had purchased wasn’t that great. Finally, I found a recipe that looked pretty good. I substituted some of my own ingredients and added a few extras that gave it a pizzazz effect. Homemade Hummus is a lot cheaper to make than to buy and in my opinion, better quality than store bought. Although this recipe does call for longer prep time than my usual recipes, it’s still really easy to make. See for yourself!

Ingredients

[4 extra-large bowls of Hummus]

1 cups dried chickpeas (the smallest you can find)

1/2 cup tahini

Juice from 1 squeezed lemons

1-2 garlic cloves

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon + 1/8-1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Salt

Olive oil

Parsley

Directions

1. Poor the chickpeas over a large plate. Go over them and look for damaged grains small stones, or any other thing you would rather leave out of the plate.

2. Wash the chickpeas several times, until the water is transparent. Soak them in clean water over night with 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Then, wash it, and soak again in tap water for a few more hours. The grains should absorb most of the water and almost double their volume.

3. Wash the chickpeas well and put them in a large pot. Cover with water; add the rest baking soda and NO salt. Cook until the grains are very easily smashed when pressed between two fingers. It should take around 1-1.5 hours, during which it is advised to switch the water once again, and remove the peels and foam which float over the cooking water. When done, sieve the grains and keep the cooking water.

4. Put the chickpeas into a food processor and grind well. Leave it to chill a little while before you continue.

5. Add the tahini and the rest of the ingredients and go on with the food processor until you get the desired texture. If the Humus is too thick, add some of the cooking water. It should be thinner than the actual desired texture.