Hummus| Classic Hummus recipe

Hummus is a popular dip/spread, from the Middle East and is generally served alongwith pita bread, lavash, falafel etc. Hummus is readily available in stores, but  can be easily made at home. This protein rich, low calories dip is made by blending boiled chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and tahini (sesame paste).  Apart from pita bread and falafel, Hummus can be served as a dip for juliennes of cucumber, carrot or can be spread on toasts, sandwiches etc.

Though the basic hummus is made of chickpeas, tahini and other spices, you can make many variations to the recipe.  You can add beetroot to the basic ingredients and make beetroot hummus,  add avocado to make avocado hummus, pumpkin can be added to make pumpkin hummus and so on. Let us take a look at the recipe for the classic Hummus.

Ingredients

1 cup of chickpeas (kabuli chana)
5 tbsp  tahini paste (Tahini paste is made by blending roasted sesame seeds (til) with water)
3 cloves of garlic  (lehsun)
4 tbsp olive oil (jaitun ka tel)
3 tbsp lemon juice (nimbu ka ras)
Salt as per taste (namak)

For garnishing

1 tbsp chopped coriander leaves (hara dhaniya)
1 tsp red chilli powder (laal mirch)
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds (kaddu ke beej)
Few boiled chickpeas (pake hue kabuli chane)
1 tbsp olive oil (jaitun ka tel)

Method

• Wash the chickpeas and soak in water for 6 to 7 hours.
• Pressure cook the soaked chickpeas for 3 to 4 whistles .
• Allow the pressure to escape fully before opening the pressure cooker.
• Let the chickpeas cool down.
• Strain the chickpeas and reserve the water in which it was cooked, for later use.
• Transfer the cooked chickpeas to a mixer jar.
• Add tahini paste, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and little water in which the chickpeas were cooked.
• Blend to a smooth, thick, creamy paste.
• Transfer it to a serving bowl.
• Drizzle  olive oil over it.
• Garnish with red chilly powder, chopped coriander leaves, pumpkin seeds and few boiled chickpeas.  
• Serve as a dip with pita bread/ lavash/ falafel.

Note:

The amount of garlic, tahini paste, olive oil is all about each persons preference, so the quantity can be modified to suit your taste.

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