A simple recipe for cooking hummus

Hummus is a dish very popular in the Middle East. It is nothing but a paste made from special peas - chickpeas, dressed with sesame sauce (ideally it is better to buy it in a store, it is called "tahin" or "tahini"), olive oil and spices. Usually it is served for breakfast (with bread or flat cake it will be a good meal) or before lunch or dinner as a snack. Also, the dish can be served with minced meat, usually from mutton, herbs and so on. In this article you will find an uncomplicated recipe for cooking hummus, adapted to Russian realities, that is, in detail it will be told how to cook peas, how to make sesame paste and which seasonings to add. You will only have to follow our advice and have enough time: peas need not only to soak, but also long enough to cook.

A simple recipe for cooking hummus

It is necessary to prepare this dish in advance, because the process from the beginning to the end can take almost a day. Soak the chickpeas (it's also called turkish peas) in a lot of cold drinking water. For future softness and better cooking, add some baking soda to the water. If you are lucky and you can get the peas of the harvest this year, then it should only be soaked for a couple of hours. More "elderly" beans should be kept in water for up to half a day. So the process of cooking will be greatly reduced, and after 1-2 hours you will get an excellent hummus. The recipe for cooking is as follows: after the peas are soaked, boil it in salted water until soft - a little digest is not terrible, but from the undercooked dish will not work. You can notice that the beans are encased in a transparent shell, it needs to be separated in order to make the paste homogeneous, without any inclusions of extraneous and completely useless ingredients. In order to facilitate the process, immediately from the pan place hot hummus in very cold water and lightly rub it with your hands - in this case the shell will easily separate from the grain and float up, and the peas will settle on the bottom. Repeat the process if necessary. These were the main subtleties used in the preparation of the main ingredient for this dish. Actually, the recipe for cooking hummus implies the presence of these components, 400 grams of chickpea you will need:

• 1 lemon, from which you need to squeeze juice;
• 7 tbsp. Spoons of quality olive oil;
• 2 tbsp. Spoon of ground sesame (add a little oil in it to make a paste) or the most correct option - instead of the seeds themselves, use tahini paste, also 2 tbsp. L .;
• 1 garlic clove;
• Spices - half the tablespoon dried cilantro, cumin and paprika.

When the peas are ready and already cleaned from the outer shell (how to do it easily and quickly, described above), place it in a blender together with other ingredients, except butter, and beat until smooth, homogeneous mass is obtained. If the paste is too thick, add a little water, preferably the one in which you brewed the beans. Then, without stopping the process, pour olive oil in a thin stream. Everything is ready, but the dish before serving is better to let it brew for at least one hour. As you can see, the very recipe for cooking hummus is not too complicated, but it takes quite some time to prepare. By the way, a plate with this delicious bean paste can be decorated with several whole chickpea kernels, and sprinkle with a little fresh green on top (as shown in the picture). And in the Arab countries, for even more nutritiousness, a few tablespoons of roasted mutton mince are placed in the middle. Anyway, it's best to serve hummus with flat cakes or pita bread, as a last resort with bread. He can be one of the appetizers on the festive table, and a full breakfast, and a delicious start to dinner. By the way, the hummus recipe in Hebrew does not differ from its Arabic version. And in Israel, and in Syria or Turkey, it is prepared as described above, just adding spices, focusing on your own taste. If someone likes more sharply, the ready dish can be sprinkled with a hearty paprika or pour a couple drops of Tabasco sauce into it . Meat option, we already mentioned, and if you prefer vegetables and greens, in the middle you can put chopped fresh cilantro.

If you have not tried hummus, be sure to use our tips for cooking it, maybe it will become one of your favorite snacks.