Dear hive food enthusiasts
My perfect humous came out so delicious yesterday, and I wanted to share some tips, as I've made a lot of humous over the years, and have slowly made my own take on the recipé - which best suits my taste!
Using organic and locally grown ingredients is an absolute must, for clean and high quality taste. I have access to local organic lemons, garlic and olive oil and can order organic sesame paste (tahini) online. I can buy Italian ceci/ chickpeas either loose or ready cooked in jars. It takes a lot of prep time obviously, to soak overnight and then cook the ceci, so I 'cheat' with a couple of bought jars, which I then cook further - until they're soft enough to mash by hand.
Because humous has such basic ingredients, I've never really followed a recipé strictly: instead, I begin by mashing the ceci/ chickpeas, and mixing in some tahini/ sesame paste: I don't use much tahini, as I prefer the ceci taste to dominate...
I mix lots of lemon juice - one big lemon, and three big cloves of garlic into this... and mash it until it is really smooth. More lemon juice will help the humous to stay fresh for longer.
I then, if necessary, add some more oil or water to keep the consistency: as the humous settles, it tends to harden or dry out a little - so making it slightly more liquid is better. I also add various other ingredients at the end as I'm mashing it - salt, pepper, cumin, curry powder, turmeric, peperoncino, etc - depending on what I feel like.
And the final touch, using olive oil again to seal the surface of the humous, once it is in a container. As I use the humous, I spread it out again so that the oil covers it again - keeping it yummy fresh. ☺️
My first dish was buttered, heated piadina/ flatbread, with humous, asiago cheese and tomatoes.... it was wonderful!
I hope that these tips help you perfect your own humous! Do share if you have other tips!
Blessings and love,
Clare.
