Hummus: Quick Chickpea Spread

For most nights that I get home from work, I would usually check the fridge if there's anything quick to eat. I normally leave the office by midnight at the earliest and by then, everyone at home, except my chihuahua, is asleep. It's always convenient to have something quick to grab and eat in my case without having to bother anyone and spending a lot of time preparing food. I usually eat my dinner (either sandwich, salad or soup) in my desk while reading my emails just so that I can finish off the never-ending pile of work. I know this is not a good habit but do feel free to sue me that I just want to finish as much as I can in a day's work (since I turned off my office emails in my iPhone for about half a year already) and go home as early as I can (factoring in the queue of our car service). By the time I get home and depending on the dinner I had, I would likely have a light snack while reading anything non-work related before I call it a day.

I love hummus. Bring me to any restaurant that has hummus in its menu and I'll definitely order one to try. I can't recall how Cyma's was (and I'm sad that the ATC branch has closed down because I won't have my Roka Salata fix every weekend anymore), but I love Cafe Mediterranean's and Don Limone's because they taste like they are freshly made. I have tried those that seemed like canned or store-bought, and fresh ones always prevail. It is normal in our family that we try to replicate recipes and have the same done at home.

I found Tahini sold at Santi's but it's quite expensive so I tried to make an alternative from scratch since we also have a big bag of sesame seeds at home. Here's my version of homemade hummus. It makes for a healthy snack for summer or a nice appetizer if you have someone dropping by. For me, this is a good midnight snack.

Hummus: Quick Chickpea Spread with Homemade Sesame Paste (Tahini)
Ingredients:
For the Hummus:
1 can of chickpeas (garbanzos), drained and broth reserved in a separate bowl
2-3 cloves of garlic
Freshly squeezed lemon juice from one lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
Paprika and cayenne pepper
1/3 cup store-bought Tahini, or alternatively the output from 1 recipe of Homemade Sesame Paste

For the Homemade Sesame Paste:
1/3 cup sesame seeds
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons sesame oil
4 tablespoons of chickpeas broth

All you need for this is a food processor. A feisty blender will also probably do.

1. Always prepare all your ingredients so that you are sure you have everything you need.

2. If you have store-bought Tahini on hand, you can skip this step. Otherwise, let's start making our Homemade Sesame Paste. In your food processor fitted with the metal blade used for pureeing, put the sesame seeds, olive oil, sesame oil and chickpeas broth. Process until it's pureed. Set aside.

3. If you want your hummus to be really smooth, you will have to peel off the skin of each chickpea. As the skin won't peel off on it's own, you will have to pick up each chickpea and gently squeeze out the naked piece. You will get the rhythm of doing it but it is indeed a time-consuming effort to do so. I want my hummus to still have a bit of the rough texture so I only peeled a few for five minutes (some of the chickpeas are already bare anyway) and left the rest as it is.

4. In your food processor with the metal blade still, put the cloves of garlic and process until they are minced. Then add the chickpeas, lemon juice, salt, paprika and cayenne pepper. Process until they are coarsely pureed. Then add the Tahini or Homemade Sesame Paste and puree them altogether. Add chickpeas broth one tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency. I only used up 2 tablespoons with mine. Taste and adjust the seasonings, adding more salt, paprika, cayenne pepper and/or lemon juice a little at a time until you are satisfied with the flavor.

5. Once done, place it in a nice serving bowl with the size good for dips or spreads. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika and cayenne pepper according to your taste as there's no limit in spicing it up.

6. Serve chilled (the garlic flavor develops while it's being chilled, more so if overnight) or at room temperature (after 30 mins resting in the fridge).

We had this with toasted tortilla wedges (in lieu of pita bread), sliced black olives and oven-roasted tomatoes. Opa!