H for Hummus

Hummus, for me, conjures up visions of exotic pita pockets either filled with crisp veggies or baked to a crisp, served with creamy hummus....

Once i realised how easy it is to make hummus, it's become an often made dish...and i've experimented with adding mint leaves, basil, oregano and pretty much anything that i fancy at the moment.

I've read loads of recipes and a lot of them call for tahini and for the skin to be removed from the channa...for my version, simple sesame seeds and channa with skin work...so here's d recipe for my plain, simple, not so-classic hummus.

Ingredients:

4 handfuls of dried kabuli channa (chickpeas), soaked overnight and cooked till soft

2 teaspoons olive oil (i used extra virgin olive oil) 

1 teaspoon sunflower oil (or any other neutral oil)

1 handful of til (sesame seeds), dry roasted till slightly brown

4-5 cloves garlic

reserve liquid from cooking the channa/water

salt, to taste,

chilli powder, to sprinkle on top

Method:

Lightly crush the cloves of garlic and roast in a pan. Add the sesame, garlic, salt and the sunflower oil to the blender and whizz till the sesame gets coarsely crushed. Once that's done, add the chickpeas and olive oil and process till the whole thing forms a smooth paste.

If required, add a little reserve liquid to adjust the consistency.

Turn it out into a bowl, flatten with a fork and run the prongs of d fork on the surface to form ridges. Sprinkle the chilli powder on top and serve!!

You can also add extra olive oil on top, specially if you want to keep it for a few days.