If you have a good blender or food processor, this simple hummous recipe will be a breeze to whip up.  We eat a lot of hummus at our house.  I make a batch almost every week – it sneaks its way into salad dressing, as dip for veggies and rice crackers and as a side to rice or quinoa.

You can start with either dried chickpeas or canned.  I prefer boiling dried chickpeas for my hummous as I think the flavour is better, however, I will use organic canned chickpeas if I am crunched for time.  Chickpeas are also known as garbanzo beans.

If you are using dried chickpeas, you need to start the night before.  Place 1 cup of dried chickpeas in a bowl and add water to about an inch above the chickpeas.  Cover with a lid and place in the fridge overnight.  Next day, discard the water, rinse the chickpeas with cold water and place chickpeas in a pot, add fresh water and boil the chickpeas on medium heat for about 1 hour, or until they are soft (you should be able to squish one between your thumb and finger easily).  Once they are boiled, drain – but don’t discard the water!  Use the water from the boiled chickpeas to mix in with the ingredients below.

If you are using canned, buying organic canned chickpeas will ensure you avoid the toxic BPA lining that is used in most canned foods (I like Eden Organic canned garbanzo beans, the cans have no BPA in the can lining).  Rinse the chickpeas under cold water before you use them.

Homemade Hummous RECIPE

Add the following to a blender or food processor (tip: you may want to double this recipe if you are planning to share with others)

• 1 can of drained and rinsed chickpeas (or 1 and 1/2 cups of cooked chickpeas)
• 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil (may need more – I like to pour another 1 tbsp on top when serving)
• 1/2 cup of water (may need more depending on the texture of hummus you like)
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 TBSP of raw tahini
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin (optional)
• a few springs of parsley for garnish

Blend for about 3 min then stop the blender and mix the ingredients with a spoon, then blend again until you get a creamy texture.  When you use the above recipe you should get a nice creamy texture – you may add more water or olive oil to make it more “runny”.  Once the hummus sits for a while it tends to harden up so you may want to add more water or olive oil at that point if needed.

Enjoy!