The chickpea hummus is a very easy recipe, healthy and without animal derived ingredients. Despite its extreme simplicity, it is a rather complete dish: chickpeas are a good source of carbohydrates but also a good source of protein, in the popular language it is said that they are the meat of the poor .
They are quite rich in fiber and contain Omega 3 fatty acids . They are a good source of vitamins and minerals .
Like all legumes, chickpeas are gluten-free ; they are therefore also indicated in the diet of those suffering from celiac disease. The chickpea hummus is therefore a dish that satisfies numerous needs, is easily prepared and is very tasty. What do you want more from a recipe?
Chickpeas, how to soften them for hummus
To prepare the hummus you must first cook the chickpeas, after having soaked them at least for one night to soften them.
By adding a pinch of baking soda and a teaspoon of flour to the soaking water, they become even softer or, in any case, soften more quickly.
Before using them for the preparation of hummus, they should be cooked for about an hour . The cooking times of chickpeas are actually quite variable, much depends on the hardness of the legume. To speed up, you can use a pressure cooker.
To give more flavor, in the cooking water you can add a carrot, a bay leaf and / or a clove of garlic, according to taste.
To speed up the preparation of the recipe, nothing prevents you from buying pre-cooked chickpeas .
The tahina sauce for hummus
Traditional hummus is prepared with tahina, a typical middle-eastern sesame seed based sauce. It can be found ready in specialized stores, or you can do it at home.
Ingredients
> 200 g sesame seeds;
> 45 g of extra virgin olive oil;
> salt.
Preparation
Sauté the sesame seeds in the pan and toast them quickly ; be careful because they burn easily. After having made them cool, blend them until they are pulverized. Add the oil and salt and blend again to obtain a creamy consistency.
The recipe for chickpea hummus
After cooking the chickpeas and preparing the tahina it is possible to finally prepare the hummus.
Ingredients
> 500 g cooked chickpeas;
> 5 tablespoons tahina sauce;
> 1/2 lemon, juice;
> 1 garlic clove;
> 1 teaspoon of paprika;
> parsley;
> black pepper.
Preparation
Put in the blender the cooked chickpeas drained from the cooking water, the tahina, the juice of half a lemon, the washed and dried parsley leaves and all the other ingredients. Whisk until creamy, and the hummus is ready.
Tradition, in reality, would like the mortar to be used, but the blender or a mixer allows this chickpea cream to be obtained more quickly. Of course, if you want to use a mortar, so be it .
The chickpea hummus can be used to flavor bread bruschetta and croutons or, in keeping with the Middle Eastern tradition, it can be accompanied with Arabic bread.
For a lighter chickpea hummus, instead of using tahina sauce you can add toasted recipe sesame seeds directly to the recipe .
For a more spicy hummus, you can use curry instead of paprika or even create your own spice mix to add to the mixture.
