Another few inspiring ideas from our fair trade foodie friend, Fiona ...

If you have chickpeas you have cooked from dried, then you are ready to make hummus. It’s so ridiculously easy you’ll wonder why you ever bought it readymade. 

If you have a food processor, just put all the ingredients into the bowl and switch on. You might need to use a spatula to scrape down the sides to make sure it’s all combining. Add a tablespoon of plain water to loosen it off if it’s too thick. You are officially done. Hummus has been made. 

 

If you don’t have a food processor all is not lost. A blender will work too. Or how about a potato masher? Just get in there and squish the chickpeas until they are starting to form a paste. Then add the other ingredients and stir enthusiastically with a wooden spoon. People have been making hummus for centuries without the new fangled kit we think we need.  Homemade hummus is so tasty without any stabilisers or preservatives, and you will earn brownie points when it comes to saving the environment. No more single use plastic pots. 

 

• 250g cooked and cooled Fairtrade Organic Chickpeas
• 2 or 3 tablespoons tahini
• Zest and juice of a lemon
• 1 or 2 crushed cloves of garlic 
• Superior Sea Salt to taste

Scrape into a serving bowl swirl the top with the back of a spoon and pour some olive oil into the hollows. Sprinkle paprika or another of your favourite herbs or spices on top. Serve with flat breads, crackers or pitta and carrots, peppers and cucumber sliced into batons. 

The joy of making your own hummus is that you can choose how garlicky you make it, add more lemon and salt or get heavy handed with the tahini. You can blitz it to a silken texture or leave it with a pleasing grainy texture. 

Make the basic hummus but then add a large pinch of ground cumin, or blitz in some red pepper. Try fresh chopped coriander to give a great green speckle through it. How about caramelising a very finely sliced onion in olive oil and putting that on top as a garnish?  It’s your hummus, have it the way you like it. 

Here is a video showing how to make this yummy hummus: