I just wanted for so long to do homemade hummus, but never did it..mainly because in Romania it seemed hard to find Tahini paste..which is very important to have a really tasty hummus..
But London has lots of stores where you can find the magical paste..so I bought some..and went home to prepare a hummus which we served together with olives, cheese, grilled artichokes and some chorizo .. a very multiethnic dinner if you like :), but a really tasty one.
Ingredients:
400gr canned chickpeas washed and drained
2-3 tbsp tahini (tahina) paste – to taste – I think I used 3 tbsp
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves (depends how garlic-ish you wanted it to be)
salt and pepper
juice from 1 lemon
some hot paprika to garnish and 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp cumin powder
Method:
Put the chickpeas, sliced garlic and tahini paste in a food processor and work it until you have a nice smooth paste (I don’t own a food processor yet and that’s why my hummus was a bit lumpy 🙂 ), add the olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin powder and lemon juice, and process it another 2-3 minutes. Taste it to see if it needs more salt or tahini paste.
To plate: put half of the hummus quantity on a plate, smooth it’s surface with a spatula, than make a hole in the middle and pour some olive oil in it. Sprinkle some hot paprika and you’re finished.
You could try and serve this with some warm Naan bread.
The Sassy Foodie 
here’s a tip…to really take your hummous to the next level, add some cumin powder 🙂
Looks great! I like to use smoked paprika rather than hot, it gives it a nice little smokey twist.
Delicious recipe and beautiful photo! Thank goodness you found the tahini. You did hummus justice.
Thanks everybody!
@ Leor : actually I did add like 1/2 tsp of cumin powder but forgot to write it down :). Thanks for remining me
@ Tim: I only had hot paparika at home, but I’ll try the smoked one next time. Thanks
@Angela: I agree hummus is nothing without tahini paste. Thanks for the compliments.
YUMMM … craving this now! Love your authentic presentation and I bet it tastes fantastic. Need to get my hands on some tahini paste too & give this a shot.
@Muneeba thanks and good luck finding tahini paste 😉
I’ve been looking for the perfect hummus recipe- this sounds fantastic!
@ Sara: Thank you! Hope you’ll find it tasty as well 🙂
I like using the blender to make hummus. I think it makes it a little creamier. Either way, homemade hummus rocks and is totally worth the effort.
@Luke: I am sure you’re right..a blender is next on my shopping list 🙂
Congrats! There are a few places in Bucharest where I can find the tahina paste and other nice Arabian or Turkish spices mixtures. There’s also a Turkish butcher’s shop where the owner asks you what do you intend to cook, so that he could chose and properly cut the meats himself.
Anyway… I love making humus and the continuous “dance” of ingredients until THE taste comes up. I use a five spices combination that contains anise, cumin, cinnamon, coriander seeds and white pepper and grapefruit juice, that gives the whole thing a very fresh and “light” taste. Unfortunately for your readers, my text in in Romanian, but at least you can enjoy the pictures.
http://www.pranzuldincaserola.ro/2009/05/16/humus/
Lovely work, Ralukmica! I will probably try your ham and mushrooms muffins today.
@pranzuldincaserola Sorry I am late in publishing the comment..It went directly to spam. So sorry we didn’t have this conversation before I left Romania – I could have made hummus a long time ago :(. I think I’ll give your version a try cause it sounds delicious 🙂
Thanks 🙂 You should try them I am sure you’ll love them!!