Mama’s Humous
I don’t remember a time in our house after we came to the UK in the early 70’s when we didn’t have some of my mothers’ wonderful humous in our fridge. My father had developed type 2 diabetes following trauma he suffered in Iraq, and my mother took excellent care of his diet… I supposed today it would be called a predominately paleo diet but it included humous.
It’s a food that’s filling and good to snack on. Each one of the ingredients has a great health benefit; for instance they know today that consuming tahini regularly can decrease type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cholesterol. Garlic is well known for its anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. Chic peas are high in plant protein and fibre. Today humous would be called not a food for healthy-living, but a food for medicine.
There are almost as many recipes for humous as there are Arab households but this one of course is the best ;) At any rate it’s a really good basic one which has stood the test of decades and my father’s discerning palette.
Ingredients:
one tin of drained chickpeas
2 tablespoons of good quality tahini and a splash more
juice of a large juicy lemon… taste at the end and add another half if you need
one medium sized clove of garlic
a good sprinkling of salt
Put everything in the food processor and blend well. Taste it at this point and add more salt or lemon juice if you need to; it will often need a little water at this point to help emulsify it. It takes a few minutes to really blend well so be patient with it. And that’s it! Put it in a bowl and leave it in the fridge, and when it’s ready to serve drizzle a good olive oil over it, a sprinkling of cayenne pepper and parsley to garnish.
Bon appetite!
Variations on the Theme
Many add a little dried cumin to the mix, but my personal recipe is to add a good handful of parsley and a little chilli into the blender - I just trim the end of stalks of the parsley to clean after washing and throw the whole lot in. It gives off an unusual smell of chlorophyl from the parsley as it’s blending and you end up with a fresh green humous which is a bit addictive.
