You say Chickpea, I say Garbanzo Bean!

Our household LOVES hummus.  However, hummus can be a bit pricey when you buy it at the store.  I've always been discouraged from making it myself since Hubster told me that it's really expensive to make because of 'all the olive oil' that it requires. I went to a playgroup recently and the mom had made hummus! It wasn't quite the same as the Sabra I'm used to but it really hit the hummus spot in my belly!

I was on a mission!  I decided against buying a can of chickpeas and opted for the $.65 bag of dry garbanzo beans.  Yes, it requires a bit more time to soak and cook them but I found a recipe online that really helped me out.  Here is the link if you decide to get the dried beans. How to Soak and Cook Chickpeas

So that might take a bit of time.  Not so much effort, just time. You soak them for an hour, you boil the water for 5 minutes, soak for an hour...etc.  You can leave the house while you are doing all this though so it's not THAT hard!

After I'd gotten the chickpeas to the right tenderness (I should have simmered them a bit longer though, I went for the 60 minute and I should have done the 90, eh.) I started making my hummus!  Yum!  Here is the recipe I used.  Hummus Recipe (Using Sesame Oil)  Our local market did not have tahini, at least that I could find, but thankfully a friend moved cross country last summer and she gave me a few items from her pantry that she didn't want to keep, one of them was Sesame Oil.  Turns out it makes excellent hummus!

So this is my adjusted recipe for the fact that I used less than the needed amount of beans:

About one cup of chickpeas if using dried OR One can, rinsed
1T Lemon juice
1T olive oil
1 garlic clove
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp salt ( we thought it needed a bit more)
1/8 tsp pepper
1 1/2 T sesame oil
2-3 T of warm water

Of course I took pictures!

All those ingredients!  And of course a Lone Star Tallie since it was the weekend!

You can't see it but the blades are spinning up the oils!

Then in go the beans! (Poor little guys!)

And voila!  Hummus that tastes like the store!

Ok, it didn't taste EXACTLY like the store but that's only because I needed to add a bit more salt and a bit more olive oil.  But for a first try it's pretty amazing! I'm always a little hesitant when it comes to salt anyway.  Also, since it was a bit of a 'finagled' recipe, meaning a bit of adjustments, I had to do math and we all know what happens when I do math!

I highly recommend trying this at home if you like hummus!  I can't wait to make it again myself!

What is your favorite thing to smear on pita?