Priyanka, RD

Healthy, homemade Hummus: one recipe in four wonderful flavors!

Updated: Sep 9, 2020

Hummus is an incredibly popular staple of the Mediterranean diet, used as a dip and spread, goes well with veggies and bread. It's one of the healthiest dips, rich in protein, fiber, minerals like manganese and iron. The simplicity of the recipe and taste makes it very versatile!

“Many scientific studies show that hummus dip is one of the healthiest dip as compared to some other dips (sour cream/ salsa/ Ranch) due to it's high fiber and protein content.”

There is just a ton of difference in the flavor of a home-made hummus as compared to a store-bought one! From personal experience, I got to say that my family, even kids, started to love this dip since I started making it at home. So, if this is something you've never tried before, now is the right time to give it a shot! You'll be surprised how easy and delicious it is!

Did you know sesame seeds supply about 20% of the RDI for zinc in a 3-tablespoon (30-gram) serving! It's also rich in copper, manganese, calcium and healthy fats, should be a regular part of vegetarian lifestyle.

RECIPE:

Gluten-free

Nut-free

Egg-free

Vegan

Soy-free

Prep time: 15 minutes

Food processor time: 5 minutes

Serves: 4

Impromptu Plain hummus:

Ingredients (for hummus with canned garbanzo beans and tahini):

garbanzo bean, 1 can
fresh lime juice from 2 limes
garlic cloves, 2
salt to taste
tahini paste, 1.5 tbsp
olive oil, 1/4 cup
crushed pepper, to taste
cold water, around 1/4 cup

Assemble all the ingredients

Pulse tahini and lime juice until thick (say 45 sec to 1 min), add drained garbanzo beans, olive oil, salt pepper, add few tablespoons of cold water from top as you grind

Instructions (for hummus with canned garbanzo beans and tahini):

Use a food processor, combine the tahini and lemon juice and process for 30-45 seconds, scrape the sides of the bowl then process for 30 seconds or so.
Add the garbanzo beans, olive oil, garlic, and salt, process till it reaches perfect consistency, adding few teaspoons cold water from the top.

Plain hummus

Hummus with raw garbanzo beans and sesame seeds:

There is another way to make hummus from scratch, that needs some pre-planning.

The two ingredients that are different- the raw garbanzo beans instead of canned and sesame seeds instead of tahini.

All you need is a 3/4 cup raw for the garbanzo beans (after soaking & cooking it'll equate to the same amount as 1 can). It requires washing and soaking the raw garbanzo beans in 5 cups of water, for 8 hours at least and then pressure cooking it. This would yield around 1.5 cups of ready to use beans.

Ingredients (with raw garbanzo beans and sesame seeds):

raw garbanzo beans, 3/4 c
sesame seeds, 1/4 cup of tahini, 1.5 tablespoon
lime juice, 2 limes
garlic cloves, 2
salt to taste
olive oil, 1/4 cup
crushed pepper, to taste

Served with: Eat it as a meal/pack for lunch, with toasted multigrain ciabatta, sourdough or pita bread, veggies, and cheese

Instructions (with raw garbanzo beans and sesame seeds):

Soak garbanzo beans overnight and cook till tender (in a pressure cooker or an instant pot).
Pulse raw sesame seeds few times, in a coffee grinder (for 30 sec or so) to get a powder consistency.
Use a food processor, combine the sesame seed powder and lemon juice and process for 30-45 seconds, scrape the sides of the bowl then process for 30 seconds or so.
Add the cooked garbanzo beans, olive oil, garlic, and salt, process till it reaches perfect consistency, adding few teaspoons cold water from the top.

Hummus (from scratch): garbanzo beans, soak for 8 hrs/overnight, boil; grind the sesame seeds; process everything with lime juice, and cold water then add olive oil

Here is the fun part! Why not make it colorful and more appealing? Some variations I have here are:

Beet hummus: simply add shredded beets to the hummus, stir well. It's the prettiest red-purple color you could imagine and my favorite too!
Green chilies, mint, and cilantro hummus: perfect for a desi palate, just add chopped cilantro, mint, and green chilies to it.
Red chili/paprika hummus: just add a tempering of a pinch of hing powder (asafoetida), curry leaves, mustard seeds and red chili powder in olive oil, a south Indian twist to the plain hummus!
Turmeric hummus: simply add 1/4 teaspoon or so turmeric powder to it and stir well

Different variations of plain hummus- beets, green chilies-mint-cilantro, red chili pepper and turmeric

Pro Tips:

use cold water according to your need, it gets thicker when you refrigerate
stores well up to 5-6 days in the refrigerator
avoid removing the skin of garbanzo beans (unless you care a lot of the smooth texture) as the skin provides extra fiber