Kitchen Trails - Hummus

Hummus. Mmmmyumyum. I eat it as a dip, with pita or wraps, part of a salad dressing, as a spread. There's so many ways to enjoy the delicious and healthy Hummus

Hummus is super easy to prepare. I did mine with dried chickpeas instead of canned ones. Just 2 extra steps, soaking overnight and boiling them.

I prefer dried chickpeas to canned because I would rather not have any preservatives of any kind, and I can adjust the salt content. Canned chickpeas can always be used to save of these 2 extra steps, or if you want to eat it NOW, as soaking takes at least 8 hours for me.

For Hummus, you'll need:

250g dried chickpeas, rinsed and soaked for 8 hours or overnight in salted (about 1 tsp) water that covers and at least 2 inches above the level of the chick peas. You'll need enough water as the chickpeas expand A LOT. After soaking, rinse the chickpeas well and put in a pot and add 2 tsp of salt and enough water to cover at least 2 inches above the chick peas. Bring to a boil and turn down the flame to a simmer and let cook for about 40 minutes. Once done, drain the chickpeas and keep about 1 cup of the liquid. If you are using canned chickpeas, keep the liquid from the can

2 - 4 cloves of garlic, depending on preference

Olive oil, about 1/3 cup, depending on preference

Juice of 1 lemon

Paprika powder for a bit of heat. I used about 1 tsp. Can be omitted

Cumin powder, about 1 tsp, depending of preference. Cumin is pretty aromatic and pungent, so use according to your own taste

Liquid from the chickpes, add to loosen the consistency of the Hummus, add a little by a little during blitzing until it comes to a consistency that you prefer. Some like it very thick, and some like it to be more runnier

Salt to taste. Add at the end as the liquid from the chickpeas will be salty as well.

Blitz everything together. Done :) Keep chilled in the fridge.

Notes:
- you can add different things to the Hummus to make variations of the basic recipe. Bell peppers, celery, chillies instead of paprika powder, different spices or herbs. Or even veggies like spinach and kale, to make it a Hummus-Pesto