Hummus, tahini, babaganoush and guacamole

[Davidglen77]

Tahini is easy to make, with raw unroasted unsalted sesame seeds and dry sauteé them for about 3 mins in a hot frying pan (without any oil) and remove from the heat just before they brown.

For hummus, the ingredients are simple:
3 cans of garbanzos, rinsed
Juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
4 Tablespoons of tahini
4 Tablespoons of olive or sunflower oil (natura brand is great for a ligher taste)
1 teaspoon salt
2 medium garlic cloves
50 +/- ml water
Blend all ingredients until smooth
Add other spices if desired, cumin, pepper, nutmeg, hot red pepper, etc.
Buen provecho

 

[MizzMarr]

What do people add to the homus, in addition to the basic garbanzos, salt, olive oil and tahinni? I like to use a little cumin, a lot of garlic, a and a fair bit of lemon juice to give it some bite, but some may find this sacreligious, which is fair enough. Let's trade homus recipes!

I don't use olive oil in making hummus, rather I use sesame oil. I buy a nice smoked sesame (they sell regular too, also good stuff) in barrio chino that lends a nice depth to the flavor. Sesame oil + sesame seeds in the blender mix is a decent it's a decent substitution if you don't have any tahini (which I will make from now on, thanks David!) . In addition to cumin, salt, garlic (usually roasted), and lemon juice I also add sumac (an arabic lemony-flavor spice--same brand as the tahini, falafel that's commonly sold here--alwadi I think), and because I'm an addict to all things spicy I also sometimes add hot red pepper flakes. To cut down on the oil content I also reserve the liquid from the garbanzo can/soak and add that in during the blend to make it a bit lighter.

 

[mendozanow]

Great recipe, thanks. And thanks for the variation above.

I find that buying bags of dried garbanzos both cheaper and tastier for hummus. I also find that most cans of garbanzos have skins in them that I do not like to put in the blender, you can still feel them. I also find that canned garbanzos have a rather musky taste and smell, but maybe that is just my imagination. With dried garbanzos, I put them in a big bowl (they really expand sometimes to several times the size, so leave lots of room) covered with lots of water, for about 24 hours in the fridge so they do not spoil. Then I boil them for an hour to make them more mushy, before I put them in the blender. I really like the smooth blend that is produced by this.

Before I add the garbanzos to the blender, I blend the chopped and crushed garlic with the lemon juice (I have a always-producing lemon tree with continuous fresh lemons, so I like the pulp as well, it blends well), a little water from the pot used to boil the garbanzos and any other solids or spices so they blend smoother before adding the soaked/boiled garbanzo beans to the blender. That results in the solids being more finely blended into the hummus. Hummus should never have chewey bits (especially garlic bits), in my respectful opinion, and should be a fine consistent paste.

I hope somebody's Lebanese grandmother doesn't call a curse down on me!

 

[Davidglen77]

Sounds delicious with those exotic ingredients added, hummus is a great food to get creative with. One item I would caution you with, the water in cans of beans and or other vegetables should be discarded and the food product thoroughly rinsed. That water is many times full of preservatives, and leach from the can, so I would avoid ingesting it. Also if you soak beans, the water that they are soaked in absorbs a lot of the gas causing elements (sugars) that the beans leach into the water. So discarding it you avoid the problems that a lot of people experience with eating beans. Just a heads up.......

 

[mini]

I use basically the same ingredients as DavidGlen but I don't measure. Like mendoza I prefer dry garbanzo, but I'll use either. I probably put more tahini. Then I put paprika & olive oil (sometimes chopped parsley) on top before I serve/eat it.

 

[fifs2]

So I have been thinking my next business venture is going to be a juice bar. I am also considering having a few items of prepared food in containers to sell also. Hummus, tahini, babaganoush and guacamole...

David you are a sketch ..I will be there in line as soon as you open..although I lived with (fancy overpriced) juice bars in US and Ireland, for me juice sellers in Egypt showed me how life with fresh juice can really be - with mangoes hanging outside for immediate juicy gloppiness, tamarind juice on tap and let´s not forget strawberry juice which is pure heaven and simply only accessible and extra enjoyable outside US or Europe...if ýou´re going the food route then go for fresh falafel and kebabs and I will love you forever....

 

[Davidglen77]

So I have been thinking my next business venture is going to be a juice bar. I am also considering having a few items of prepared food in containers to sell also. Hummus, tahini, babaganoush and guacamole...

David you are a sketch ..I will be there in line as soon as you open..although I lived with (fancy overpriced) juice bars in US and Ireland, for me juice sellers in Egypt showed me how life with fresh juice can really be - with mangoes hanging outside for immediate juicy gloppiness, tamarind juice on tap and let´s not forget strawberry juice which is pure heaven and simply only accessible and extra enjoyable outside US or Europe...if ýou´re going the food route then go for fresh falafel and kebabs and I will love you forever....

I would love to do a middle eastern food type place, however I don't have a business partner and it's really hard to find good employees here, I mean REALLY hard. If anybody is interested in partnering with me, I already have the local, it's mine, no rent to pay, but of course there are expenses, but would be great to build a thriving business which is not easy in Buenos Aires. I already have had a business here for 2 years, it's going well but I've decided I want to go more into the healthy side of things. So if anybody is SERIOUSLY interested, I would love to talk.......

 

[TomAtAlki]

The hummus at Sarkis is as good as any that I have had anywhere (except at this little hole in the wall in this little town in Israel)

 

[Julia2]

I am used to make Tahini, but without water. If you have a blender, you can also make this kind of "nut butter" from all kinds of nuts like peanuts (peanut butter), almonds, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds etc. Just with rosted nuts, a little Oil and if liked salt, that´s it! (for peanut butter you can just put in the blender the rosted peanuts that are sold als snacks)
I love it, especially here in Argentina where nut butters are hard to find and expensive.