for the longest time, i thought hummus fell into the category of "why bother making?" foods. you know what i'm taking about; those foods that, sure, you could make, if you had to, but why bother, when it's probably cheaper and easier to just buy it. sushi and thai food, as well as french macarons, fall into that category for me. i figured hummus was similarly fussy and complicated, involving some sort of roasting or delicate balancing of spices. this could not be further from the truth. hummus is ridiculously easy to make. it is also cheap, filling and a great tasty lunch, especially when paired with some lebanese pickles and grape leaves.
homemade hummus, adapted from Epicurious
1 teaspoon cumin seeds/or powdered cumin
2 garlic cloves (you can roast them beforehand if you want to: rub them with some oil and put them in a little packet of foil in the oven at 350 for about 30 mins)
1/4 cup tahini
cayenne pepper
juice of 1 and 1/2 lemons
2 cans of chickpeas- drained and rinsed
your best quality olive oil
toast the cumin seeds in a little skillet until fragrant and dark, about a minute. pour them into a mortar and pound with a pestle. you can use a 1/3 of a teaspoon of powdered cumin if you don't have a mortar and pestle. add 2 garlic cloves to the cumin and pound them until they become paste. alternatively, you can make a paste of garlic with the flat side of your knife and some salt. scrape everything into a food processor and add the tahini, a pinch of cayenne, kosher salt, pepper, the lemon juice and chick peas. pulse the machine a few times, then add oil in a steady stream. i usually end up using about 1/3 of a cup, but you will be able to tell by the consistency of it. if it seems too thick, and you're worried about your oil consumption, you can thin it out with a little bit of water.
to serve, spread it on a plate and drizzle on more oil, then sprinkle with a touch more cayenne, black pepper, and salt.
cost
cumin: less than a $1
1/5 of a jar of tahini: $3.49/5 = $0.69
lemons: $1
chickpeas: $1 each can
total: $4 total
this is equal to two containers of store bought hummus for half the price!
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