Hummus is one of the most traditional Middle Eastern dishes and being Middle Eastern myself I wanted to learn how to make hummus from scratch, so I took it upon myself to learn. So far, I’ve made roasted red pepper hummus, black olive hummus and my newest trial is this delicious garlic flavored hummus. What’s so great about hummus is that it’s super simple to make, if you have all the ingredients all you need to do is toss them into a blender and you’re done!
Before we dive into the recipe, I want to list some of the key ingredients and their amazing health benefits:
Chickpeas
- Lots of fiber
- Good source of protein
- Assists in stabilizing blood sugar
- Good for your heart health
- Reduces the risk of breast cancer, osteoporosis and minimizes hot flashes in menopausal women
Garlic
- Protects against colon cancer
- When applied to the skin it was shown to stop the spread of skin cancer cells
- Lowers blood pressure
- Good source of Vitamin B6
- Anti-fungal agent for yeast infections
Olive Oil
- Helps lower bad cholesterol
- Lowers blood pressure
- Helps prevent cancer
- Helps improve and/or maintain cognitive function
- Amazing benefits if applied topically to the the hair and skin
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of chickpeas
- 1 Tbs Tahini paste
- 5-6 small garlic cloves
- 1/2 Tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 Tsp ground cumin
- 5 Tbs olive oil
- 2 Tbs non-dairy or dairy milk
- 1 small squeeze of lemon about 1Tsp
- Salt and peper to taste
- Zaatar
- Pine Nuts
Directions:
For this recipe you can either use fresh chickpeas or canned. If you’re using fresh you should soak the chickpeas for about 24 hours. After soaking, cook chickpeas on the stove for about one hour, drain and rinse.
Add all the ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth, feel free to add more salt, pepper and lemon juice as you blend and taste.
After blending place in a dish and top with a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkle of Zaatar and a small bunch of pine nuts and enjoy!
Tips:
-You can reduce or add more fresh garlic cloves or garlic powder depending on your own taste buds. You can definitely taste the garlic in this recipe so if you’re not a huge fan of garlic reduce the amount to four cloves instead of six.
-If you like your hummus very smooth and creamy you can continue to add a table spoon of milk into the mixture, be careful of adding too much because it will turn into hummus soup!
Bonus Recipe: Roasted Chickpeas
I had some leftover chickpeas so I decided to make some roasted chickpeas with a cajun seasoning. Roasted chickpeas are a wonderful alternative snack to chips and other salty treats. For this recipe I simply added cajun powder and olive oil, but feel free to experiment. You can do something more simple like salt, pepper and olive oil or maybe you want a sweet snack in which you’d add some honey or brown sugar to the mix. Set the oven to 350 degrees and roast for about 40-45 min or until browned.
Enjoy!
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Aya Owies graduated from Rutgers University in 2013 and she currently lives in the New Jersey area. She is a certified yoga instructor and has a passion for healthy and simple cooking. She love experimenting with new ingredients and recipes and considers the kitchen her creative space.
