Hummus is one of the more popular Middle Eastern dishes. Served with fresh toast, or pita bread, hummus makes for a great snack, or breakfast, or appetizer, Tahini is an important part of the hummus recipe, and it can be omitted.

Preparation Time: 10 minutes.
Cooking time: 60 minutes.

Ingredients:

500 g. dried hummus
4 cloves garlic
8 spoons sesame Tahini
Olive oil
¾ cup fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp. paprika
½ spoon salt
baking soda

Preparation:

-Wash hummus well to get rid of impurities, and then soak in water with ½ spoon of baking soda for 10 hours. You may not use baking soda, but the hummus will take more time to get cooked specially that baking soda helps hummus to get cooked fast.

-Filter the hummus well after 10 hours from soaking, and then wash with cold water again.

-Put hummus with 6 cups of water, and ½ spoon of baking soda (optional) in a pot over the cooker.

-Leave the hummus over a high heat until boiling, then low the heat, and cover it for an hour.

-You should check the hummus after 45 minutes by taking out one grain from the pot, and try to mash it with fingers. If it was mashed easily then take the pot away from the heat.

-After you finish cooking the hummus, put the hummus, garlic, sesame Tahini, paprika in blender, or food processor, and add ½ cup of warm water. Mash the mixture for about 3 minutes on a low speed.

-After you finish mashing the hummus, add lemon juice, and mix well using a spoon then taste the mixture to determine the amount of salt to be added.

–  Now you can use a prepared plate for serving, you can create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.

– Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well. Garnish with parsley, or Sumac (optional), or olives.

Serve right away with fresh warm pita bread, or toasted also you can cover it and refrigerate.

Notes:

-You can add the soaking water while mashing the hummus instead of warm water, but this will make hummus hard to digest.

– When you put a hummus in the water for cooking and reaches the boiling level you can notice the formation of white foam on the water; it should be removed as possible.

Variations

If you like a spicy Hummus you can add some of red Chile, or a green Capsicum when you Mash it.

Storing Hummus

Hummus can be refrigerated for up to 2 days, and you can keep the grain of cooked hummus in the freezer for up to one month, and add the rest of ingredients to make your dish again.