Quick and Easy Humus Recipe

Hummus is a simple, delicious spread which is easy to make.  Hummus recipes usually include four basic ingredients:  garbanzo beans, also known as chickpeas; garlic; lemon juice; and tahini or toasted sesame seeds.   Tahini is a spread made from ground sesame seeds, lemon juice, garlic, and salt.

How to make hummus?

Begin with a simple recipe for hummus, such as this basic one:

• 3.5 Cups cooked garbanzo beans (2 – 15 oz. cans)
• 1-2 large cloves of garlic (to your taste)
• 1/4 C toasted sesame seeds (or ¼ C – ¾ Cup tahini)
• 3-6 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice (depending on how thick or thin you like your hummus)

Blend together in a blender, food processor, or molcajete to the consistency you like.

Serve hummus as an appetizer or snack, with fresh vegetables and pita chips.  Vegetarian sandwich recipes using hummus are easy to create.  Use good pita bread as a base.  Local Middle Eastern bakeries often have wonderful, fresh pita.  Spread the inside of the pita pocket with ¼ cup of hummus.  Add cheese, vegetables and apples which you enjoy.  Feta is the best cheese to use with hummus, as it has a natural affinity with chickpeas.  Look for fresh Greek feta in the deli case and crumble what you need for your recipe.  Tart apples make a nice, crisp contrast to the smooth and creamy hummus.  Lettuce and tomatoes are also excellent additions.  A collection of vegetarian sandwich recipes using hummus can be found on holy-food.org.

Hummus is nutritious as well as delicious.  Hummus calories depend on whether sesame seeds or tahini are used in the basic recipe.  The basic recipe above, made with sesame seeds, has approximately 87.5 calories in a ¼ cup serving used in a sandwich, and 175 calories in a ½ cup serving for vegetable dip.  A ½ cup serving also has about 6.2 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein, and only 4 grams of good fats.  Hummus made with tahini adds a little more than 20 calories and 3 grams of fat for a ½ cup serving, for a total of 195 calories and 6 grams of good fat.

Hummus recipes often call for additional ingredients.  A majority of recipes, about two thirds, also use cumin, cayenne and salt.  Half of hummus recipes call for additional herbs and spices, often parsley, black pepper or onion.