Sesame Hummus
Now, I'm married to a man with a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother who have spent the best parts of their adult lives in Lebanon, Saudi and Jordan. To say they know the best of Arabic food is an understatement. I vow to provide you with the best of their home-cooked, dairy-free and vegetarian dishes but today I'm giving you my sesame humous. It's my husband's favourite because it has a strong toasted sesame flavour. This recipe came about by accident when I realised I'd run out of tahini but had already started making breakfast. Happy accident!
NUTRITIONAL OVERVIEW
CHICKPEAS (garbanzo beans) are a high fiber food, you can get your full daily recommended by eating two cups. They're also high in protein, folate rich, a good source of iron and and excellent source of manganese. Manganese helps fight calcium deficiency (among many other things) by balancing levels of calcium.
Recent studies have also led to the belief that people who eat chickpeas snack less throughout the day. Winner!
Toast the sesame seeds until they are golden. keep moving them around the pan because they catch quite easily and you'll end up with half burnt and half completely untoasted!
Paprika is totally optional, I love the flavour it brings, but it's not traditionally there.
Add the lower amount of water and then adjust as you blend.
Once it's all blended taste and adjust with oil, lemon, water or salt. I like mine really lemony but my husband prefers less.
Recipe
SESAME HUMMUS
This recipe can be whipped up in 10 minutes using either a blender, food processor or stick blender. In fact I'm sure you could just mash away with a fork if you were really restricted (sub the seeds for tahini in this case). I've been experimenting with different equipment for you as I usually use my Vitamix; it's done in a matter of seconds and is super smooth. In the processor it takes a few minutes the same with the stick blender, so easy and a matter of minutes. The consistency is different with the stick blender, it's less smooth and doesn't quite get all the sesame seeds but we didn't mind that at all.
SERVES 2-4 PORTION DEPENDING
PREP TIME 5 MINS | COOK TIME 5 MINS | TOTAL 10 MINS
INGREDIENTS
1/8 cup sesame seeds
1 400g tin chickpeas/garbanzo beans
1 clove garlic
1/8 cup (30ml) olive oil
1/8 cup (30 ml) lemon juice
1/8-1/4 cup (30-60ml) water
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 tsp salt
METHOD
Heat a dry frying pan and add the sesame seeds keep moving them around the pan until they are golden. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl to cool a little before blending.
Drain and rinse the chickpeas and add them to the blender or mixing bowl depending on what equipment you're using.
Roughly chop the garlic (If you are using a stick blender or mashing by hand crush the garlic) and throw that it.
Add the remaining ingredients including the sesame seeds and just 1/8 cup water and blend until desired consistency.
Taste and adjust if you need to; adding more lemon juice or water if it's too thick or a bit more salt to your taste.
Drizzle with olive oil when serving so as not to offend the entire Arab nation.
