Hummus - traditional Turkish dish which will allow you to get new taste sensations. the site, together with the publication "1000 Cooking Tips", have selected recipes for preparing this lean snack for you!

This article is intended for persons over 18 years of age.

Are you over 18 already?

How to choose the right chickpeas for hummus

Hummus is a traditional snack in many Arab countries. By appearance the dish is a bit like everyone's favorite mashed potatoes and has a rich taste. Appetizer can be prepared with various seasonings. Traditionally, mashed potatoes are made from boiled chickpeas with the addition of olive oil, tahini and spices. The taste of the dish depends on the spices.

Vegetarians were the first to appreciate it as a good source of protein. Admirers of a healthy diet also pay attention to cooking from chickpeas. Chickpeas can be eaten in different forms: stewed, boiled, raw. Often it is added to salads, boiled or raw.

The benefits and harms of chickpeas

Chickpeas contain amino acids, B vitamins, calcium, magnesium and other trace elements. Chickpeas contain up to 20 grams of protein per 100 grams, making them an indispensable source of protein for vegetarians. This is a nutritious and high-calorie product. In boiled form, 100 grams of the product contains at least 164 kcal. To reduce calories dishes, cook pasta from sprouted peas.

Chickpeas have a beneficial effect on the cardiovascular system, improve metabolism and immunity. It is recommended to eat at lunchtime. Pea dishes should not be eaten by people with problems with the gastrointestinal tract. Although chickpeas are considered healthy, they should be eaten in moderation and be mindful of the diversity in nutrition.

Tahini is the main ingredient in hummus.

Tahini is sesame paste. Behind this intricate name lies an easy-to-make home-made addition to mashed potatoes. Pasta can be bought ready-made in the store, or you can cook it yourself.

Ingredients

• sesame seeds - 100 gr.;
• sesame / olive / walnut oil - 50 ml.

Cooking

1. When buying sesame seeds, it is worth trying them. Sesame should not be bitter, otherwise the paste will turn out bitter.
2. You can take any oil of your choice. The main thing is that it does not have a strong smell.
3. Sesame seeds are lightly toasted, then ground in a blender.
4. Gradually add a small amount of oil. Blend well with a blender. The paste should become homogeneous, similar in consistency to thick sour cream.
5. Hummus acquires a pleasant nutty flavor after adding tahini.

How to cook chickpeas

There are many variations of hummus, but all of them are derived from the classic recipe, which is characterized by a combination of boiled chickpeas and tahini paste. Garlic, lemon juice and olive oil are added to them. Salt is added as desired, as are spices. The addition of other ingredients emphasizes the special taste of the cold chickpea snack.

beans need cook, ceiling, add the rest of the components to it. Boiled peas can be crushed or chopped in a food processor. After grinding in a food processor, the paste will turn out softer and more uniform. You can add paprika, spinach, yogurt to the finished hummus. This will enhance its taste. If it is not possible to buy tahini, peanut butter will be a worthy replacement.

When using dried beans, they should be pre-soaked in cold water for four hours, and it is better to leave them overnight. Hummus can prepare And from canned chickpeas. However, a snack made from dried beans will be tastier. Yes, the texture may vary.

1. Preparation of hummus classic recipe using dried beans takes a long time. As with regular peas, chickpeas must be soaked in water for several hours. If possible, the beans can be left overnight. Then they will cook faster, and the snack will turn out to be more tender.
2. After soaking, you should replace the water in a ratio of 1 to 2, as with most cereals. Boil water with beans, reduce heat to low. To the question how long to cook chickpeas For pasta, it's hard to answer. It all depends on the amount of water and on which stove to cook on. At least 30-40 minutes, then check the readiness of the chickpeas and, if necessary, cook further.
3. Drain the liquid in which the peas were boiled into a container. This water may be needed if pea paste it will get very thick. Only then can you proceed directly to the preparation itself, which will take no more than 20 minutes.

To significantly save time when preparing hummus Houses You can use canned or frozen chickpeas. It is not so important which chickpeas you choose, the main thing is to stick to the proportion: 1 part tahini and 3 parts peas.

Classic hummus recipe

Ingredients

• boiled chickpeas - 300 gr.;
• garlic - 3 cloves;
• tahini - 100 gr.;
• lemon juice - 100 ml;
• olive oil - 5 tablespoons;
• salt, red pepper - to taste

cooking

1. Put boiled chickpeas, tahini and finely chopped garlic in a blender bowl and grind. If necessary, you can add a little liquid in which the peas were cooked. You should get a homogeneous paste, similar to a thick cream.
2. Put the pasta from the blender bowl into a deep plate, add salt, pepper, pour olive oil. Hummus is ready.
3. You can serve the dish with fresh vegetables, pita bread, pita. If desired, cumin, fried onions, chopped parsley, paprika can be added to the appetizer.

raw food recipe hummus in terms of ingredients does not differ from the classic. The main difference is that after soaking, the peas do not need to be boiled. Peas are pre-soaked for 4-6 hours, then the liquid must be drained, and the swollen peas should be ground in a blender to a homogeneous consistency. raw food Hummus can also be made without tahini.

Chickpea hummus without tahini

It can be quite difficult to find the second main ingredient of this cold appetizer - tahini, and time do there is no pasta on its own. In this case, sesame paste can be replaced with peanut butter, or any of the oils: sunflower, sesame. The taste will be slightly different from the classic recipe, but the creamy consistency will remain. In addition, peanut butter will add a brighter nutty flavor and aroma to the dish.

Ingredients

• boiled chickpeas - 1 cup;
• lemon juice - 1 tablespoon;
• olive oil - ¼ cup;
• ground cumin - 1 tsp;
• salt - to taste.

cooking

1. Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor. Grind well for a few minutes to a smooth, cream-like consistency.
2. Pour cooked pasta into a bowl. You can serve with any side dish. Fresh or cooked vegetables are ideal.

Hummus can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days without losing its useful properties. If you want the product to be stored longer and not lose its qualities, transfer it to a container with an airtight lid.

Hummus recipe with cumin and sesame seeds

Ingredients (serves 4)

• boiled chickpeas - 300 gr.;
• sesame seeds - 30 gr.;
• olive oil - to taste;
• lemon juice- 4 tablespoons;
• zira - 0.5 tsp;
• salt - to taste.

cooking

1. Fry the zira and sesame seeds in a dry heated frying pan until golden brown. Cool down. Grind in a coffee grinder. It is advisable to fry and grind them separately.
2. In a blender, mix dry ingredients, add garlic, salt and a little olive oil. Mix well.
3. Boiled and slightly cooled chickpeas add to the rest of the ingredients, chop until smooth. If the paste turns out to be very thick, it can be diluted with the broth that remains after boiling the chickpeas.
4. Add lemon juice and beat with a blender.
5. When the mass is homogeneous in consistency, put it in a deep plate, make a depression in the center and pour a little olive oil into it.
6. To decorate the dish, you can leave a dozen whole peas, you can use parsley or other herbs. As seasonings, many add sumac or paprika, and not just cumin. Serve chilled hummus with fresh pita bread, raw or baked vegetables, as a sauce for meat dishes.

You will need:

300 g of chickpeas, 80-100 ml of olive oil, 1 potato, 1 lemon, 1-2 cloves of garlic, 2 tablespoons of tahini paste, 1 teaspoon of paprika, cumin, turmeric, salt, pepper to taste.

To prepare tahini paste: 50 g sesame seeds, a few drops of olive oil.

cooking

Wash the chickpeas well and soak in water overnight. Drain the water, rinse the chickpeas, fill with clean water. Place a small peeled potato cut in half into the pot (it is believed that the presence of potatoes helps the chickpeas cook faster and become softer). Cover, bring to a boil and cook for 45-60 minutes. The chickpeas should be very soft and break apart easily. Salt the chickpeas 5 minutes before the end of cooking. If you do not have tahini paste and nowhere to buy it, then you can cook it yourself from ordinary sesame seeds. When buying sesame, it is advisable to taste it - it should not be bitter, otherwise the appetizer will simply be bitter and tasteless. To make a paste, sesame seeds need to be toasted in a dry frying pan until golden brown. Pasta can also be made from raw sesame seeds, but fried sesame seeds are richer, with a brighter taste. Then cool the seeds and send them to the blender bowl, grind until a paste-like mass is obtained. In the process of grinding, add a few drops of olive (sesame) oil. By the way, the longer you grind sesame seeds, the more liquid the paste becomes (sesame oil will be more actively released from the seeds), so you can adjust the desired density.

Once the chickpeas are fully cooked, remove the potato, drain the water and set aside. Transfer hot chickpeas to a deep dish, add salt, cumin, turmeric, paprika, pepper, juice of one lemon, tahini (paste), chopped garlic, a little broth in which chickpeas were boiled, and chop everything into homogeneous mass immersion blender. It is advisable to cook hummus immediately from hot chickpeas, since it is when mixed with hot chickpeas that all spices fully reveal their aroma. In the process of puree, you need to gradually add olive oil. After the mass becomes homogeneous, you can bring it to the desired density with broth. But be careful not to add too much broth, otherwise you will end up with a watery puree, which is not at all desirable and less tasty. Put the finished hummus in a suitable dish, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika. I must say that, despite the fact that hummus - cold appetizer He's also delicious hot. You can serve with pita, pita bread, toast and just fresh vegetables.

The recipe was sent by Bakhareva M.N., Vitebsk

What chickpeas choose For cooking snacks is the personal choice of each hostess. By experimenting and adding different seasonings, you can achieve the perfect recipe cooking a dish that only you will know. And of course, we will be very happy if you share your hummus recipes with us in the comments, and you can subscribe to the publication "1000 Cooking Tips"

Turkish peas (chickpeas) appeared in our kitchen not so long ago, but all fans of a healthy diet immediately appreciated it. It is especially loved in the Middle East, where a wide variety of salads, hot dishes and snacks are prepared from peas. Including hummus, the classic recipe of which you will learn in our article.

Hummus "came" to us from the Middle East.

It is prepared on the basis of chickpeas with the addition of various spices and olive oil. The appetizer is served in pita bread, tortilla, in pita or in the form of a pate.

Especially such a dish is popular among vegetarians, because it contains natural vegetable protein.

Ingredients:

• a glass of chickpeas;
• three tablespoons of olive (vegetable) oil;
• salt, pepper, dried thyme;
• two bay leaves;
• some lemon juice.

Cooking method:

1. As you know, beans require a long cooking process, and in order not to waste precious time, it is better to soak the chickpeas overnight and then boil them by adding half a teaspoon to the water. soda.
2. Pour two tablespoons of oil and 50 ml of water into a deep saucepan. Then we lay the finished chickpeas along with spices, lemon juice and grind everything with a blender.
3. We put the finished hummus into a bowl, make a small indentation, pour in a spoonful of oil with seasonings and decorate with herbs.

homemade peas

You can make hummus not only from chickpeas, but also from peas. The combination of beans and spices will reveal to you all the secrets of Jewish cuisine.

Ingredients:

• a cup of peas;
• two tablespoons of tahini paste (sesame oil);
• two cloves of garlic;
• seasonings (coriander, red pepper, cumin);
• salt.

Cooking method:

1. Soak the peas and then boil for 40 minutes. The liquid should not be drained, part is left.
2. Pour spices and garlic to the peas, add salt, tahini to taste and beat with a blender. If the hummus is too thick, then dilute it with the water that was left after boiling the beans.
3. Serve the finished dish with greens if desired.

How to make from beans?

Beans can be cooked delicious pasta called hummus.

His main secret is that the ingredients used in the recipe must be whipped into a light fluffy foam.

If the paste turns out to be too dense, then do not despair - just add boiled water, the main thing is not to overdo it so that the liquid does not come out.

Ingredients:

• 280 g white beans;
• three tablespoons of olive oil;
• seasonings (dried garlic, thyme, bay leaf, turmeric);
• salt;
• 60 g sesame seeds.

Cooking method:

1. To reduce the cooking time of the beans from two hours to 50 minutes, soak the beans overnight, and while boiling, add soda on the tip of a knife, which will soften the hard shell of the beans. After 20 minutes, throw bay leaves to the beans and add a little salt.
2. Grind the seeds and mix with a spoonful of olive oil.
3. We combine the boiled beans with sesame paste, pour in another spoonful of vegetable oil, add all the spices and beat everything with a blender.
4. We transfer the finished hummus into bowls.

Hummus with avocado

If you like classic hummus, then you will definitely like the avocado appetizer, especially since such an exotic fruit is rich in vitamins and valuable substances. Hummus is nutritious and very tasty, it can be served with bread and vegetables.

Ingredients:

• two handfuls of chickpeas;
• avocado;
• two cloves of garlic;
• salt, a pinch of zira;
• lemon.

Cooking method:

1. Boil the chickpeas soaked overnight until tender, cool, drain the water into a bowl.
2. We cut the avocado into small pieces, and fry the cumin for a couple of minutes in a dry frying pan.
3. Then we remove the spice, pour in the oil and sauté finely chopped garlic.
4. We combine all the ingredients, squeeze the juice from one lemon into them and beat with a blender.
5. Hummus should have a creamy consistency, so if necessary, dilute it with water from the boiled beans.

Classical performance by Yulia Vysotskaya

Ingredients:

• 240 g dry chickpeas;
• 80 g tahini paste;
• a cup of vegetable broth;
• lemon;
• 70 ml olive oil;
• three mint leaves;
• a pinch of red paprika and cumin;
• salt.

For a snack, you can take dry chickpeas or ready-made beans in their own juice.

Cooking method:

1. Pour the chickpeas into the bowl, pour in the broth. If the beans were cooked, then instead of vegetable broth, you can use the water that remains after cooking.
2. We also add all the spices, lemon juice and tahini paste to the beans, beat everything with a blender. We adjust the consistency of the composition with the broth, which should resemble low-fat sour cream.
3. We try hummus for salt, if everything is normal, we shift the pasta into a beautiful bowl, take a spoon and start making circular movements from the center. Pour oil into the resulting ruts, lightly sprinkle everything with paprika and cayenne pepper.

Pumpkin Recipe

Sunny pumpkin and beans make hearty and delicious hummus. At the same time, such a snack will be very useful, because such a combination of products will give the body protein, fiber and valuable vitamins.

Ingredients:

• pumpkin weighing 1 kg;
• two cups of chickpeas;
• six cloves of garlic;
• lime juice;
• two tsp provencal herbs;
• pepper, salt;
• a pinch of paprika for color
• some oil.

Cooking method:

1. Peeled and seeded pumpkin cut into pieces. We spread it on parchment along with garlic, the cloves of which must be wrapped in foil.
2. Pour the pumpkin with oil, pepper, add salt and bake for 40 minutes. Pieces of vegetables should become soft and golden brown.
3. To the baked pumpkin, add boiled (or canned) chickpeas, as well as oil, lemon juice, a little water and seasoning.
4. Using a blender, grind the ingredients to a creamy consistency. Adjust the consistency of the paste with water or oil.

beetroot hummus

Today, hummus is popular not only in the East, but throughout the world. While traveling, he was transformed and for his preparation, culinary specialists began to use all the new, unusual ingredients for a traditional snack. This is how the recipe for beetroot hummus was born, which is often served in Australia, America and Europe.

Ingredients:

• 400 g beets;
• four tablespoons of tahini;
• two cloves of garlic;
• a spoonful of lime juice;
• a spoonful of oil;
• 1 tsp zira;
• two spoons of breadcrumbs for breading;
• salt.

If you could not find tahini paste, then you can take sesame seeds, dry them in a pan and grind them in a coffee grinder.

Cooking method:

1. Each root crop is wrapped in foil and baked in the oven for an hour. Then we clean the beets and cut them into arbitrary pieces.
2. Place the beetroot slices, garlic, spices and tahini (or sesame flour). Grind the composition and use for density breadcrumbs. If the hummus turned out to be the right consistency, then it is not necessary to use breading.

We store the finished snack in the refrigerator and serve with pita bread, bread or chips.

For an appetizer, you can use any color of lentils, but dark hummus is much prettier.

Ingredients:

• 90 g red lentils;
• two tsp sesame seeds;
• a spoonful of lime (lemon) juice;
• clove of garlic;
• a pinch of chili pepper, black pepper and oregano;
• oil.

Cooking method:

1. Boil red lentils for half an hour, then drain the water into a separate bowl.
2. Mix sesame seeds with olive oil and grind to a paste consistency.
3. Pour citrus juice, spices, chopped garlic and a little oil into the lentils. Beat the composition, if necessary, add lentil broth.
4. We put the finished hummus in a bowl, sprinkle with oil and decorate with parsley leaves.

One of the main ingredients of the appetizer is thini paste (tahini), which gives the hummus a nutty flavor. But if you could not find sesame paste, then just take sesame seeds, dry them in a pan and grind them together with olive oil to the consistency of thick sour cream.

Otherwise, the preparation of hummus should not cause any problems at all. Try it and you will surely succeed!

Do you often please your family with something other than the usual dishes? Yes, so that the food was not only tasty, but also healthy. You understand that it's not about fried pies on weekends. No, infrequently? So what is stopping you, maybe it seems to you that it is very difficult to cook healthy and unusual food at the same time? Whatever you answer, we will dispel these myths - see below the recipe for homemade chickpea hummus. You will surprise your family and guests with this appetizer and decorate your everyday life with bright taste.

Hummus, what is it?

This is a paste or puree that is an integral part of the diet in the Middle East and near the Mediterranean Sea. Hummus is a source of protein plant origin. For our country, the dish is rare, so you have every chance to become the best hostess among friends. To prepare this appetizer, take chickpeas. These are peas or beans, which is sometimes called lamb.

Recently, healthy eating and various innovations in the diet and lifestyle have become popular, because chickpeas are increasingly used to prepare various unusual dishes. In addition to chickpeas, spices, garlic, and olive oil are added to the dish. As you understand, the result is a very fragrant and healthy pasta.

For information! The inhabitants of the Mediterranean have always been distinguished by longevity, good health and beauty. Just remember the hot inhabitants of Italy. They owe much of their excellent health to their diet.

The homemade chickpea hummus recipe that we will offer you will make your table richer. It is not difficult at all, but it will take time, so it is better to postpone cooking for the weekend so that you can make pasta according to all the rules. Hurry here is fraught with disappointment.

Health Benefits of Hummus

One phrase - healthy snack, not enough to appreciate the importance of chickpeas and chickpea snacks for our health. In short, we list some of the benefits of eating hummus in your diet.

• It can be used by vegetarians.
• Suitable for gluten allergy sufferers. These are the people who cannot eat many foods that contain grains.
• Displays harmful substances and toxins from our body.
• Fills with energy, makes the skin clearer.
• Normalizes blood sugar levels.
• Contains macro-, microelements, vitamins. Especially a lot in the composition of vitamins of group B.
• It has a positive effect on brain activity and on the endocrine system.

For information! As for the calorie content of hummus, it depends on the ingredients that you use, but if you cook pasta according to the classic recipe, then on average it is 200-300 kcal.

As for the cons, this is gas formation in the stomach if you overeat a snack. Also, the paste is contraindicated for people who have an individual intolerance to the components. If you are wondering what chickpea hummus is eaten with, then it's all a matter of taste. Someone prefers to use it for sandwiches with bread or crispbread, someone adds it to meat, someone dips vegetables, chips and other products into pasta.

Secrets of delicious hummus and useful information

One of the main components of hummus is sesame paste. But if you are not a resident of a metropolis, you are unlikely to be able to find this product. But you shouldn't despair either. Pasta can be made by hand. In a frying pan, sesame seeds are dried and lightly fried, after which you pour them (cooled) into a blender and start grinding. Pour in a little olive oil. A good paste should have the consistency of a cream.

To prepare a snack, chickpeas must be taken hot, this speeds up the mixing and cooking process. After boiling the peas, you should remove all the skins, they usually separate on their own, so you just have to filter the chickpeas well. If the chickpeas were well soaked and cooked for a long time, then its skins can not be separated, they will be very soft and the blender will grind them. Be patient, as you need to cook peas for about 2-3 hours, but you need to take three times more water than chickpeas.

Important! Don't cook beans raw. Be sure to soak them for a day, changing the water 4-5 times. Don't expect chickpeas to boil without soaking. Fresh and good peas can be ready in 12-14 hours.

You will use the spices, but don't put them whole in the paste, first grind them in a coffee grinder and then use the powder. One of the main spices in pasta will be zira, it is always used in eastern countries. If you haven’t found it, then replace it with a mixture of red and black peppers, you can also add a little coriander here. So, it's time to move on to the main question, how to cook hummus from chickpeas.

Hummus. Cooking step by step

Ingredients

• Chickpeas - a glass.
• Sesame paste - 40 grams or about 2 tablespoons.
• Half a lemon.
• Olive oil - two tablespoons.
• Garlic - 1-2 cloves.
• Zira - ½ teaspoon.
• Black pepper and red, salt - to taste.

Rinse the peas well and soak, depending on its quality, for a day or for 12-14 hours. During the soaking, change the water so that it does not fade. After we shift the chickpeas into a saucepan and wither with water 1: 3. Boil the peas until fully cooked so that the skins separate from the beans. This is about 2 hours, less than three. If you didn't soak the beans for more than a day, then boil them longer so that they are all soft and steamed.

When the chickpeas are cooked, the water is drained through a colander into another container, and the mass is transferred to a blender. Remember that it is better to take hot or warm chickpeas. In a blender, chickpeas are well chopped, adding a little broth that has been drained. The garlic is crushed separately, then added to the chickpea paste along with the sesame paste. Everything is thoroughly mixed, lemon juice is poured. Hummus is ready, it remains to cool slightly and serve.

Now you know the recipe for chickpea hummus, which is prepared simply, but a little long. But believe me, the result will exceed all your expectations, and your friends will be pleasantly surprised by your culinary skills and ingenuity. You can serve an appetizer with meat, a side dish or simply in bowls with pita bread. Bon appetit!

All materials on the site are presented for informational purposes only. Before using any means, consultation with a doctor is MANDATORY!

Many chefs claim that hummus is exclusively a Greek appetizer, but today many cuisines of the world claim the right to call hummus their national appetizer. For example, Turkey, Syria, Cyprus, in general, the countries of the Middle East. But I will not delve into these disputes, but simply tell you how you can cook this magical, you can even say silky-tasting chickpea paste at home.

But to begin with, I’ll say that chickpeas are very useful product, it contains a significant amount of vegetable protein and iron, which makes chickpeas an indispensable food product in fasting or during a diet.

Chickpeas can be cooked with various additives, and the taste of the finished hummus will depend on this. I decided to add garlic to the composition of the ingredients, which will make my appetizer even more flavorful.

About the cooking time, I would like to say that hummus is cooked very quickly in a pressure cooker, the main thing is to boil the chickpeas in advance, and even earlier it needs to be soaked, but about everything in turn.

To make hummus you will need

Ingredients:

• Chickpeas (dry) - 300 grams,
• Garlic 3 - 4 cloves,
• Sesame (white) - 50 grams,
• Olive (or any refined vegetable) oil 3 - 4 tbsp. spoons,
• Lemon juice - 2 tbsp. spoons,
• Red ground pepper, ground black pepper, ground sweet paprika, ground coriander - total spices ½ teaspoon,
• Salt to taste.

Cooking process:

So, first let's deal with chickpeas. Chickpeas or Turkish peas, it must be soaked in warm water in advance, of course, after washing thoroughly and sorting it out if necessary. Soak the chickpeas overnight (or 10-12 hours). I will tell you little secret, chickpeas after cooking will be much softer, and it will cook faster if you add a little baking soda just a couple of pinches is enough. But just remember to rinse the chickpeas well before cooking.

I will cook chickpeas in a multicooker - pressure cooker Unit (power 900 watts). I shift the pre-soaked chickpeas, pour water so that it completely covers the peas and is 3-5 cm higher than it. Then close the lid of the multicooker and the steam release valve. We select the program "Beans", set the time to 20 minutes. We wait until the sound signal sounds, notifying that everything is ready. Be careful when opening the pressure cooker lid. In pressure cookers, you first need to open the valve and wait until the steam comes out.

In conventional multicookers without a pressure cooker function, chickpeas for hummus need to be boiled until they become soft and can be crushed without effort in your hands. This is usually done on the Bean or Stew program. Depending on the variety of this legume, the cooking time can be in the range from one and a half to 5 hours.

Remove boiled chickpeas from water and cool.

While the peas are cooling, let's prepare the sesame paste. Of course, ideally, if it is ready, but at home you can make an equally fragrant analogue. To do this, fry the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan until a beautiful golden color. Be careful, sesame seeds are quickly fried, so I recommend constantly stirring it and reducing the heat to a minimum.

Transfer the roasted sesame seeds into a deep container (I have a plastic container) and grind it into a homogeneous mass using a blender. I did not grind it completely, I like it when whole sesame seeds are found in baking, so I decided to leave some whole seeds in this appetizer as well.

Then pour in sesame vegetable oil, add spices and peeled garlic passed through a garlic press. Again use the blender and grind the ingredients until smooth.

We also grind the cooled down with a blender to a puree state.

Now it remains to combine two masses: sesame and chickpea puree. I mixed everything with the same immersion blender. Ready hummus should stand a little, cool. Let's give the opportunity to connect all the aromas and tastes with each other.

Transfer homemade hummus to a small bowl, drizzle with vegetable oil and decorate to your liking. And yes, do not forget to sprinkle hot red pepper on top of the hummus, this will give it a special piquant taste and aroma. Hummus in its area is usually eaten with pita bread. And you can serve it with croutons or crackers, and hummus is also delicious with a slice of fresh homemade bread.

To tell the truth, a person who has ever visited the Levant (Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon) and tried this achievement of the local cuisine will go nowhere without hummus. You miss it, you sing about it, you start cooking it with your own hands literally just after returning from the airport. Fortunately, all products for its preparation in our latitudes are also inexpensive.

Hummus is a mashed cold appetizer made from chickpeas (mutton peas) with tahina, a sesame paste, common in the Middle East. Often quite spicy. Always - very gentle homogeneous consistency, slightly oily. What distinguishes it from the usual chickpea puree is just this very tahina (about it below) and a special set of spices (about them, too, a little later).

Chickpeas are traditionally served with pita. Gastronomic traditionalists will even tell you that the only thing you can scoop up with real homemade hummus is a bread “spoon” of pita bread. Tear off a piece, roll it with a spoon, scoop it up. However, with pita bread, fresh bread or corn crackers, it will also go with a bang. The worst thing is that without bread, too, will go. Spoon. Unstoppable.

In our area, hummus is still considered exotic. And in any Israeli house (whether Jewish or Arab) it is found in the refrigerator with the same probability that in ours - a piece of sausage, cheese or butter. And, of course, as is the case with all such common dishes, each housewife makes homemade hummus a little differently.

Basic principles

There are six main ingredients in hummus: chickpeas, tahina, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, black pepper. For some reason, many Russian-speaking recipes do not consider olive oil an indispensable component. This is wrong: if you do not add oil, you will have to double the amount of tahini to reach the desired consistency, and the dish risks becoming simply inedible.

In principle, a valid option is to leave some of the water in which the chickpeas were boiled, then you will really manage to make the hummus tender enough. But - rather watery than oily.

So, following the Israeli and Palestinian housewives, we recommend not to discount olive oil, and to pour it quite generously, not sparing: a good half a glass for half a pot of hummus.

Not canonically, but repeatedly tested in practice, we would recommend adding a small piece of butter as soon as you remove the chickpeas from the heat and drain. The texture of the puree will become softer and more delicate.

An important clarification: you need to make hummus from still hot chickpeas. Then the oils will mix better with the puree, and the seasonings will open up better, and the structure will be more uniform.

Many people recommend peeling already cooked chickpeas from the skins. In principle, this can not be done if the chickpeas are boiled very well (until the peas begin to fall apart), and then everything is finely ground with a blender.

But back to the ingredients. Firstly, probably not all Russian housewives know what “tahina” is (it’s also tahini, it’s also tahini or sesame paste). Tahini is a thick, oily paste made from ground sesame seeds. It is mainly used in hummus and falafel, but is also used in some sauces. The simplest, popular throughout the Levant, is tahini + lemon juice + garlic + black pepper + paprika + some cold water. You can add more cumin, chili pepper, parsley. And eat with pita or grilled/baked meat.

There is no hummus without tahini. Basically, if you make chickpea puree without it, it's all it will still be amazingly tasty, but not hummus.

By the way, try to experiment and add tahina to a more traditional bean puree for us. A little, literally one tablespoon for 4-5 servings. The taste will not change radically (and we don’t need this), but it will become more interesting and expressive.

It may well be that you will not find tahina in the stores you know. And if there are no Arab stalls nearby, and no one you know is going to the Eastern Mediterranean in the near future, you will have to try to make it yourself. Absolutely real tahini at home will not work, but it's better than nothing at all. Sesame (about a glass) and a little zira fry in a dry frying pan. Grind well in a mortar with olive or sesame oil (the second, of course, is preferable).

Lemon juice is also a must. Half a pot of hummus will take at least whole lemon, and even one and a half or two. However, this is a matter of taste.

Next up are the spices. At least black pepper. But any Israeli hostess here will only grunt: it's boring! After all, there is also cumin (aka cumin), savory (not to be confused with thyme), ground dried ginger, ground chili, coriander, paprika! .. And who prevents you from putting a little cumin there, for example? Or a couple of teaspoons of whole sesame seeds? Or even take zaatar - a mixture of spices popular in Israel. It is based on zaatar itself (one of the types of oregano, close to marjoram or hyssop), sesame and thyme. It happens with sumac, barberry, coriander ... It fits perfectly with any legumes (lentil soup, pea porridge), so it’s the right place in hummus.

Spices in grains (coriander, cumin, cumin, sesame ...) are best first slightly warmed up in a dry frying pan. And then grind in a mortar or grind in a coffee grinder. Dry herbs (oregano, marjoram, savory ...) can also be heated a little, but just a little, so that the smell of burnt grass that we do not need appears.

By the way, fresh herbs will also work: parsley, dill; not canonical, but amusing - cilantro. Just a little and grind very well.

With "accessories", in fact, that's it. But we forgot about the base.

Nut is a tricky thing. Depending on how much water is chlorinated in your city, what kind of peas you got, what time of the year it is in the yard, or simply what mood the chickpea god is in today, it will cook from two to six to eight hours. In clean water - longer, in tap water - a little faster. Soaking overnight is almost a must. Many people recommend adding a couple of teaspoons of baking soda to the boiling water to soften it. Out of a strange superstition, we ourselves do not use this method, but we share information. You need to pour a lot of water, two or three times more than peas, otherwise it will boil away - in six hours!

How much to take chickpeas? One glass is enough for you to “try”, chickpeas are boiled quite strongly. And as it goes - you will figure out the quantity yourself.

Actually, you will have to “deal with yourself” with absolutely all quantities. It's pointless to suggest proportions. Different varieties chickpeas, lemons of different acidity, spices of different freshness ... Plus personal preferences. Someone likes a lot of garlic, someone does not tolerate it at all.

With the amount of oil, for the same reasons, it is impossible to guess in advance. Sometimes, literally a third of a glass is enough for a soft, gentle puree, and sometimes chickpeas absorb a lot of it, and the puree continues to remain thick even after a good two hundred grams.

But in general, everything looks something like this:

Ingredients.
Mandatory:
chickpeas (a couple of glasses)
tahini (2-4 tablespoons)
lemon juice (0.5-1.5 lemons)
garlic (1-5 cloves)
olive oil (80-200 g)
ground black pepper

Variables:
butter
savory
ground dried ginger
ground red pepper
zira (cumin)
coriander
marjoram, zaatar, hyssop
sesame
paprika
caraway

Supplement options:
parsley dill
pine or pine nuts
fried mushrooms
whole boiled chickpeas
grated cheese
thin slices of cucumbers
finely chopped sweet red pepper

Cooking:
1. Wash chickpeas, pour warm water over night.
By the way, if the room is hot, by morning the chickpeas may start to smell slightly sour, and a white foam will appear on the water. Do not be afraid, just rinse the peas well under running water.

2. Boil the chickpeas until tender (until the peas break easily and the skin comes off). Salt - at the very end.

3. Prepare spices: warm, grind.

4. Drain the water (or let it boil). You can leave a little in the pan.

5. Add chopped garlic, butter, spices. Grind with a blender.

6. Add lemon juice, tahini, olive oil. Grind again. Grind to a puree state until there are no whole peas or lumps left.

7. If desired, add finely chopped greens and blend well again.

To the table!

Traditionally, hummus is a cold appetizer, but believe me, when hot, it is also divinely beautiful.

In Levantine countries, hummus is usually served like this: spread on a flat plate, spreading it in a thick layer with a small depression in the center. Sprinkle with paprika, sometimes sumac, herbs. A little olive oil is sometimes poured into the cavity, a handful of unground boiled chickpeas and / or other additives are placed.

Pita (ideally warm), chopped cheese, vegetables, greens are placed on neighboring plates.

An interesting version of hummus - laban-ma-hummus - is made in Palestine and Jordan: in it, tahini is replaced with natural yogurt (often goat), and olive oil is replaced with butter.

Another version is called the funny word "masabcha" (or "mashavsha") and is whole boiled chickpeas in a warm sauce of diluted hummus with tahina, olive oil and chopped garlic.

The main difference between masabcha is whole grains, which are cooked even longer than for hummus, and become even more tender and softer.

It is our deep conviction that hummus is an almost perfect dish, and in every way case is self-sufficient. But the idea of ​​making balls out of it and frying it in vegetable oil is so old and so popular that it’s almost impossible not to mention it.
These balls are called "falafel" and occupy a dominant place in the street fast food of the Middle East. Yes, in general, we must admit honestly: in Europe and America, there are already, in general, almost the same number of falafel stalls as hot dogs. Nothing strange, given the spread of vegetarianism.

Making falafel at home, on the one hand, is strange and pointless - it is, nevertheless, precisely street food On the other hand, why not.

At the same time, we can experiment with canned rather than raw chickpeas.

Ingredients:
1 can (340g) canned chickpeas
small red onion
3/4 st. chopped spicy greens (mint, cilantro, parsley)
1 tsp ground cumin
a pinch of salt
ground black pepper
3/4 st. breadcrumbs
100 g goat cheese
flour for breading

Cooking:
Drain water from chickpeas. Blend chickpeas, onion, spices and herbs.
Add chopped soft goat cheese and ground crackers and mix again with a blender.
Put the resulting mass in a bowl, tighten with cling film and send for about an hour in the refrigerator.
Shape the chickpeas into small balls. You can flatten them a little to make "cutlets" - it will be more convenient to fry. Roll the balls (cutlets) in flour.

Pour refined vegetable oil (2 centimeters) into a deep frying pan with a thick bottom, heat and fry the falafel in it until golden brown. Place on a paper towel to drain excess fat.

Serve immediately, garnished with fresh vegetables, lettuce, tahini sauce, pita and lemon wedges.

And please don't eat the falafel cold.

Don't like fried food? That's right. Stuff eggs with hummus. Both tasty and healthy.

Ingredients:
6 boiled eggs
2 tbsp. l. hummus
1 st. l natural yogurt
½ tsp ground cumin
1 st. l. ready-made adjika (sauce, not dry spice)
a pinch of salt and hot red pepper

Cooking:
Cut the peeled eggs in half. Take out the yolks, mash with a fork, mix with hummus, adjika, zira and yogurt. Stuff the egg whites with this mixture.

Arrange the eggs on a plate and sprinkle them with toasted pine nuts and red ground pepper. Or - pepper and finely chopped parsley.