Part of the reason I do buy shop bought hummus is that soaking and cooking chickpeas is such a faff and I forget to do them over night and the child then whinges because hummus is her favourite snack and then I feel guilty and relent and buy the stuff.  You’d think I’d get smart and start keeping a couple of tins of chickpeas in the larder.   I finally did – I actually bought them to use in a recipe I wanted to try out for an Indian chickpea curry but Ocado had a special offer on if I bought 4 tins so I had a couple spare.

So now I’m unstoppable!

And making it for myself is so easy and it tastes so much better!

So here are my three favourite hummus recipes:

Plain hummus:

1 tin of chickpeas, drained and patted dry

1 generous tablespoon tahini

Juice of half a lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic (or about an inch of garlic puree from a tube)

1 tablespoon Greek yoghurt

Put the lot in a blender and whizz ’til smooth.  You might want to add a little more oil to loosen the texture or a dash more lemon juice.  I use a Nutri-bullet blender for this which is supposed to be for making smoothies as it gets a really good smooth texture, which my daughter prefers to the texture I get from a food processor.

Chilli and Lime Hummus

1 tins of chickpeas, drained and patted dry

1 generous tablespoon tahini

Juice and finely grated zest of 2 limes

1 large red chilli, deseeded

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

Pinch of cayenne pepper to taste

Again just whizz this in a blender until smooth, adding a little more oil and lime juice to get the consistency you like.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

1 tin chickpeas

1 tablespoon tahini

1 large red pepper

1/2 mild red chilli, deseeded

Juice of half a lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon Greek yoghurt

*  Halve the red pepper and remove the stalk and seeds.

*  Grill the pepper halves, skin side up under a hot grill until the skins are thoroughly blackened.

*  Put the blackened halves into a shallow glass dish and cover tightly with cling film and leave to cool.  The steam should help release the skins which should be removed after about ten minutes.

*  Put everything in the blender and whizz.  You shouldn’t need any more liquid in this one and in fact it might be a good idea to add the oil and juice gradually until you have the desired consistency.

My favourite way of eating hummus is spooned, generously, into a toasted pitta pocket, with crispy bacon medallions and a couple of sun blush tomatoes – I know hummus isn’t really thought of as breakfast food, but this is my go to breakfast of choice!