[DollyR]

I am into hummus this summer and I was wondering if any one had a good recipe to make it yourself. The base gets it in Korea but it comes in frozen with no expiration and I have gotten sick from a container. I thought it would be to my benefit to make my own.

Also is Tahini a liquid or a powder? I was in the grocery store yesterday and saw a container which looked almost like a powder. I was studying it but did not buy because I was not sure. (I know kind of dumb.)

[thistoo]

Any time I've bought Tahini in the past it's been a puree. I've never seen a powder form. You can order it mail-order if you're really stuck; even Amazon carries various brands now.

As for making hummus, my mom used to make it all the time when I was a kid and while it was thicker than the store-bought variety, it was still delicious. (You can fix the thickness with extra olive oil, she just tried to keep it as healthy as possible.)

Here's a basic recipe from cookinglight.com, but you can search there or at epicurious and find lots of recipes for different varieties of hummus:

3/4 cup water
1/2 cup tahini (sesame-seed paste)
6 garlic cloves, peeled
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 (19-ounce) cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained

Place first 3 ingredients in a food processor; process until smooth. Add juice and remaining ingredients; process until smooth, scraping sides occasionally.

Yield: 4 cups (serving size: 1 tablespoon)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 34(40% from fat); FAT 1.5g (sat 0.2g,mono 0.6g,poly 0.6g); PROTEIN 1.2g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 8mg; SODIUM 69mg; FIBER 0.9g; IRON 0.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 4.3g

[sierra_ttw]

Tahini is just a paste made of sesame seeds - similar consistency to peanut butter (natural peanut butter, not the Kraft stuff).
For hummus, put the following in a blender/food processer: 4 cloves of chopped (not minced) garlic, 1 tsp salt, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 2 large cans of chickpeas (always rinse the chickpeas first or else they taste awful), 1/4 cup water, 2/3 cup tahini, 1/2 cup olive oil. You can add a bit of water if this seems too thick. Some people make it without the tahini but i prefer it with. You can also add parsley and pine nuts if you like. Hope that helps!