hummus

Serving Size  : 8    Preparation Time :0:20
Categories    : Appetizers                       Ethnic

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
   1      tablespoon    sesame oil
   1      small         onion -- chopped
   1      clove         garlic -- minced
   1      can           garbanzo beans -- drained
   2      tablespoons   sesame seeds -- toasted lightly
     1/2  cup           sesame butter
     1/4  cup           fresh lemon juice
     1/2  teaspoon      turmeric
     1/4  teaspoon      salt

Serving Ideas : Serve with toasted pita triangles.

Ingredients:

• 1 (16 oz. can chickpeas
• ½ to 1 C. cold water
• 2 t. salt
• 3 cloves garlic (or more)
• ¼ to ½ C. lemon juice
• 1 C. tahina (ground sesame seeds)
• 3 T. olive oil

Put all ingredients except water in a blender or food processor and blend. Add water if it's too thick and blend until it is a consistency appropriate for spreading. Serve with pita bread.

If you're out of tahini- or just can't find any, here's a recipe for tahini-free hummus. It may not the real thing, but it's the best substitute that I've found.

Ingredients

• 1 can of garbanzo beans (15 oz), drained, with the liquid reserved
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Blend the garbanzo beans, garlic, cumin, salt, olive oil, and lemon juice in a blender or food processor. Gradually add the reserved bean liquid until desired consistancy is achieved.

I have a friend who married an Arabic gentleman the summer after her freshman year of college. Aside from being a smart ass who torments the drive-thru employees at fast food restaurants, he also cooks many amazing things. Barbara was not so good a cook when they first married. After years of tormenting her with Arabic dishes, she has become quite skilled at making a variety of things. The last time I visited them, she taught me how to make this easy but delicious hummus. Since I started making it I haven't been able to eat store bought hummus anymore, it just isn't as good. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

What you need:
2 Cans of Chickpeas
1 lemon
salt
extra virgin olive oil
pita bread
a lemon juicer
a blender

What to do with it all:

Step One: Chickpeas into chickpaste
Open the two cans of chickpeas. Pour out all of the water from one of the cans, and about a third of the water from the other. You will pour the can with some water in it into the blender. (Make sure you put the lid on the blender before you hit blend or you'll end up with sprayed cabinets and walls, and that's not fun to clean.) Blend this until it is smooth. Then add the second can of chickpeas and blend. If you run into some difficulty getting the peas to blend until smooth, don't worry you just need more liquid in the blender, and that's the next step.

Step Two: Here's lemon in your eye
Cut the lemon in half and twist each half on the juicer until you have removed all of the citric juiciness from the fruit. Make sure there are no seeds in the juice. Add half of the juice to the blender. Put the lid back on the blender, and blend.

Step Three: And then the rest of it
Add some salt to your mixture, the amount is really to your taste. I only put about three dashes of salt in mine. You will also add a capful of the olive oil to the mixture. Once you have them in there, put the lid back on and blend until it's all smooth. At this point it should have a bit of a tangy bite to it when you taste it, if it doesn't add more lemon juice. (I tend to put all of the lemon juice in, but you don't want it to be too liquidy, it should be the consistency of toothpaste when it's done.)

Step Four: I'm hungry let's eat
Put your pita bread in the oven and let it warm up. The oven is better than the microwave because it toasts the bread and doesn't let it get soggy like a microwave can. If you have a toaster oven, by all means use that! While that's warming pour the hummus mixture into a bowl or tupperware container. Then pour some of the olive oil on top of the hummus. Not too much, just a little drizzle over it. The oil shouldn't cover the entire thing, just be in a swirl here and there. When the pita is warm to your liking, take it out of the oven and begin breaking off pieces and dipping it into the hummus yumminess!

Something extra! An added yumminess to this is feta cheese. If you get feta cheese make sure it's dry feta, and not packed with liquid. It will be much saltier if it is packed with liquid. Take the block of feta and cut it into little cubes. You can eat the cheese outright, or you can make little hummus sandwiches by wrapping some pita around the cheese then dipping it into the hummus. It's quite nummy!