I just LOVE hummus. The humble chick pea is one of my favourite legumes because it is so versatile and tasty! I mostly add them to stews, my favourite being a curried chickpea and spinach stew. I haven’t made it for a while but it is sure to make an appearance on here soon.

My recent trip to Hummus Brothers inspired me to make my own hummus dishes. I made enough so that we could have it for dinner and then lunch the next two days! I have always previously used extra virgin olive oil in my recipe but decided to omit it this time and add a drizzle on at the end. I’ll give you the basic recipe for hummus below and show you two ways of serving, one for lunch and the other for dinner.

Ingredients

1 jar Tahini (roughly 250g)
300g dried chickpeas
70ml lemon juice (I used it from a bottle – very easy)
6 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp table salt (you may need more depending on how you want it to taste)
water (amount depends on how you want to consistency but it will be around 50ml)

Method

1. Soak the chickpeas in a large bowl of water overnight
2. Drain and place in a large pan of boiling water. Cook until soft (around 30 minutes)
3. Once soft, drain and place into a large food processor along with the lemon juice, garlic, salt, tahini and a drop of water
4. Blitz until smooth. You may need to add more water, lemon juice or salt to taste

Serving suggestion 1 – lunch

This is so cheap, delicious, easy to make and it will fill you up for hours!

1. Thinly slice a small red onion and marinade it in a splash (1 tbsp) red wine vinegar and a pinch of Cornish Sea Salt for a few minutes
2. Serve hummus with sliced baby vine tomatoes, cucumber, olive oil, paprika, lemon juice, onion and flat bread

Serving suggestion 2 – dinner

Again, extremely inexpensive and delicious. Serve with a side of tender stem broccoli

1. Keep some of the boiled chick peas back and set aside
2. Assemble hummus in the dish, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with paprika, add a squeeze of lemon juice and scatter the boiled chick peas over the top. Finish with half a boiled egg and a warmed flatbread