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!