Quick and easy hummus
Happy kanu pongal peeps. Those of you, who don’t understand what that means, check this out. Over the last 2 days, almost all the SM apps are about pongal (of course, I follow a lot of Indians and hence). However, we are not celebrating pongal this year which means we didn’t make all the fancy pongal this year unfortunately. It might seem weird to be totally going on a tangent here but I whipped up a nice Arabic platter over the weekend (you heard me right, no pongal, chakkarai pongal in the blog even though it’s pongal time) and as weird as it may seem, I am going to be posting this on my SM apps today :D. I have always been a weird one (not just self proclaimed) and not following the norms has been one of my top qualities :). So, this is no exception. Anywho, my mama who cooks quite a bit these days (fancy stuff and regular stuff) was telling me how easy it is to make baba ghanoush/ moutabel. Up until that point, I never even thought about making these on my own. However, after he mentioned it, I had to agree with him. So, I decided I will try and make an arabic platter over the weekend as lunch for all of us. All of us in the house like the occasional lunch or Arabic bread/ falafel/ pickles along with hummus/ garlic cream. Only, we have always bought these from outside and I decided to make it at home. Being in the land of falafel & hummus, it never occurred to me to make these honestly. The only thing difficult with the making of hummus is that you have to plan ahead. You can’t just decide to hummus and go through with the process (Of course, you can use canned chickpeas but I am generally not a fan of canned products). You need to soak the chickpeas atleast 8-10 hours (best overnight) and cook them. Other than the planning bit, the whole process is a breeze. Not to mention, the final product is extremely extremely delish. I used a store bough Tahini paste. But if you don’t have it on hand, you can make the tahini paste fresh as well (I haven’t tried this as yet). Go ahead and try this. Once you have this on hand, you can use this as a dip to your raw veggies. Makes consuming raw veggies like cucumber/ carrots so so so yummy! And ooh, almost forgot to create the source.
![](https://www.spicebuffet.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DSC_1049-scaled.jpg)
- 1/2 cup dried chickpeas
- 3 tbsp tahini paste
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 pods garlic
- 2 tbsp lemon juice 1 lemon entirely squeezed
- a pinch salt (optional)
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper (optional)
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In a vessel, soak the chickpeas overnight (or atleast 8-10 hours) in water.
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Pressure cook the chickpeas for 5-6 whistles by adding some salt & water.
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In a blender/ mixer, add the chickpeas, tahini paste, olive oil, water, garlic, lemon juice and grind well to a smooth paste.
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Adjust salt & pepper (if adding) to your taste.
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Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator and use it with 7-10 days.
Stepwise pictures
![](http://sowmptuous.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DSC_1040-1024x680.jpg)
Soak chickpeas overnight & pressure cook for 5-6 whistles by adding some salt. After that, in a blender, add the chickpeas, tahini paste, lemon juice, garlic pods, water & olive oil. If adding extra salt & pepper, add now.
![](http://sowmptuous.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DSC_1042-1024x680.jpg)
Grind to a smooth paste.
![](http://sowmptuous.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DSC_1049-1024x680.jpg)
Use it immediately as an accompaniment to arabic breads, falafels, fresh vegetables or store in an air tight container in a refrigerator and use within 7-10 days.