Hummus in Arabic means chickpeas. Hummus is a classic Middle Eastern dish which is a blend of well seasoned boiled chickpeas with a generous drizzle of olive oil. The punch of garlic and nuttiness of sesame make hummus one of the most loved dips around the world. It can be paired with pita bread, falafel or just some well-baked lavash.
As a part of our winter treats session, we bring to you three Hummus recipes that are foolproof including classic hummus, pesto hummus and beetroot hummus. These dips are sure to make your dipping platter more vibrant. Step-by-step recipe mentioned below.
Watch Recipe – Hummus Three Ways
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Preparation for all the three variants of Hummus
- Chickpeas 250 g (will make 3 servings of hummus)
- Salt to taste
Soak chickpeas overnight in plenty of water. In the morning drain the water, wash and use fresh tepid water to boil the chickpeas.
Boil Chickpeas with enough water along with the salt in a pressure cooker. The chickpeas should be immersed well in the water while boiling and should be pressure cooked upto 3 to 4 whistles and then lower the flame and pressure cook for another 4 to 5 minutes. We used the cuisinchef pressure cooker to boil the chickpeas.
Before grinding, retain a few boiled chickpeas for garnishing. Grind with the help of water in which the chickpeas were boiled. No need to peel the chickpeas. Just ensure that the chickpeas are boiled well.
Recipe for Pesto Hummus
Ingredients
- Boiled chickpeas – 1 cup
- Fresh basil leaves – 1 cup (retain a few baby basil leaves for garnishing)
- Garlic cloves peeled – 2 thick cloves
- Lemon juice – of 2 lemons
- Extra virgin olive oil – 1/4th cup or as required
- Cashew Nuts – 2 Tbsp
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper – freshly crushed – approx 1/4th tsp
Method
- Soak cashews in hot water for 30 minutes.
- In a mixer jar throw in the basil leaves, add the garlic, drained cashew nuts and boiled chickpeas. Grind.
- Now add the seasonings – salt and freshly crushed pepper
- Squeeze in the lemon juice. Blitz.
- Add the olive oil and blitz again.
- Transfer into a serving shallow dish.
- Create a small cavity and drizzle in more olive oil, approx 2 tbsp. Top it with crushed black pepper and place some boiled chickpeas and a small twig of fresh basil.
Recipe for Classic Hummus
Ingredients
- Extra Virgin Olive oil – as required
- Kabuli chana/chickpeas boiled- 1 cup with salt
- Salt – to taste
- Lemon juice – juice of 2 lemons or more as required
- Cumin powder – approx ½ tsp
- Red chilli powder – approx ½ tsp
- White til – Sesame seeds roasted – 1.5 tbsp
- Garlic cloves – 2 fat cloves
Method
- Soak sesame in some hot water for 40 minutes.
- Grind chickpeas with some water in which it was boiled.
- It should be a thick paste with spreadable consistency.
- Add garlic and sesame after draining the water in which it was soaked. Blitz again.
- Transfer to a mixing bowl.
- Add salt, cumin powder and lemon juice. Mix.
- Drizzle about 2 tbsp olive oil and mix well.
- Sprinkle red chilli powder and re-mix.
- Transfer into a serving dish and create a shallow cavity.
- Drizzle some more olive oil generously.
- Sprinkle red chilli powder for garnish and place 3 to 4 boiled chickpeas as garnish.
Recipe for Beetroot Hummus
Ingredients
- Beetroot 1 medium
- Boiled chickpeas – 3/4th cup
- Lemon juice – 2 lemons
- Salt to taste
- Black pepper to taste
- Garlic cloves – 4 fat cloves
- Paste of roasted sesame seeds – 2 tbsp
- Roasted sesame seeds – ½ tsp for garnish
- Silver foil
- Extra virgin olive oil – as required
Method
- Preheat the oven on 220 degrees for 10 minutes.
- In a silver foil, place the beetroot, sprinkle salt and fresh crushed black pepper on it.
- Place garlic in it and drizzle olive oil on all the ingredients placed in the foil.
- Prepare the foil parcel and place it in the preheated oven.
- Grill it for 15 to 20 minutes or till the beetroots are cooked well.
- Slightly cool and chop the beetroot before starting off with the recipe.
- In a grinder, throw the roasted beetroot and the roasted garlic. Grind well.
- Add the chickpeas and the sesame paste and grind again.
- Using reserved liquid of chickpeas make a smooth paste.
- Season it by adding salt, black pepper and lemon juice.
- Add some olive oil and blitz once more.
- Check the seasonings and adjust, if required.
- Transfer into a serving bowl.
- Make a shallow cavity and drizzle olive oil generously.
- Garnish by placing a few boiled chickpeas and scatter some roasted sesame.
- Place thin roundels of lemon slices.
Serving Suggestion (Plus a Bonus Recipe of – How to make the Pita Chips)
- To prepare the pita chips you will need –
- 4 large store bought pita breads
- Extra virgin olive oil for basting
- Coriander whole – 1 to 2 tbsp
- Cumin roasted – ½ tsp
- Red chilli powder – 1 tsp approx
Method
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees for 10 minutes
- Cut the pita into half.
- Brush up olive oil on all the 4 slices on one side
- Scatter the coriander seeds on them.
- Sprinkle red chilli and cumin powder.
- Dunk into a hot oven for 10 minutes or till crisp.
- Serve hot with the hummus platter.
- Alternatively the hummus can be served with crackers too.
- Serve fresh warm hummus with vegetable crudities like radish, carrot, steamed broccoli and steamed asparagus.
- A classic accompaniment with Falafal.
- Use hummus as a sandwich spread.
- Classic combination of fresh mini pita breads or make it fancier by serving with pita chips as explained above.
- Voila ! These hummus are a great accompaniment to the grilled paneer.
- Evening Hunger Pangs ? Just grill slices of bread, cut them into rectangles and serve with the Hummus.
Hacks to get the perfect Hummus
- Never throw the water in which the chickpeas were boiled. This water is to be used to grind to make a smooth and creamy paste for the hummus of all the three variants.
- To check if the chickpeas have been boiled to perfection for the hummus recipe, try pressing them with the thumb and index finger, the boiled chickpeas should be squishy.
- Adding salt while boiling the chickpeas enhances the taste of the hummus as your chickpeas will not taste bland.
- Roasting the sesame brings out the nuttiness and makes your hummus super tasty with an earthy flavour.
- Use good quality extra virgin olive oil to make the tastiest hummus.
- Since hummus contains Tahini paste which is fairly expensive, add roasted sesame and garlic to cover it up.
- Store and keep homemade Tahini – dry roast 6 tbsp white sesame and 6 to 7 fat garlic cloves. Grind with the help of extra virgin olive oil. Use this tahini instead of soaked sesame.
- Use lemon juice liberally as the tanginess uplifts the taste but do the go overboard. Do watch the video for more understanding.
- As we have made Vegan Pesto Hummus, we are not using parmesan cheese for the pesto hummus and have replaced the parmesan with the cashews.
- Grinding the hummus to a super creamy consistency and the olive oil poured in generously makes your pesto close to the authentic one.
- The hummus can be stored upto 4 to 5 days in the refrigerator.
- Cashews in Pesto recipe can be replaced with peanuts or walnuts too.
Do try these Hummus Recipes and give us a feedback in the comment section. Other variants of Hummus you can make at home are – Sundried Tomato Hummus (blanch in hot water and grind and add), Red Bell Pepper Hummus ((blanch in hot water and grind and add), Roasted Garlic Hummus (Roast whole garlic in the oven with some olive oil, salt and pepper) or Roasted Pumpkin Hummus (roast with some olive oil, salt and pepper). Pick up a flavour from these variants and follow easy process of grinding the chickpeas, tahini, seasonings, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil with it and Ta-da you are set with a new variety of Hummus.
