Chickpea Spread With Sesame Seed Paste Hummus Bi Tahina Food

CLAUDIA RODEN'S HUMMUS BI TAHINA (CHICKPEA AND SESAME DIP)

Steps:

• Drain the chickpeas and simmer in fresh water for about an hour or until tender. Reserve the cooking water.
• Process the chickpeas in a blender (or food processor) with the lemon juice, tahina, garlic, olive oil, salt and enough of the cooking liquid to obtain a soft creamy consistency.
• Serve on a flat plate, garnished with a dribble of olive oil, a dusting of paprika and ground cumin (this is usually done in the shape of a cross) and a little parsley.
• Serve with warm pita bread for dipping.

MOCK HUMMUS BI TAHINI (CHICKPEA & SESAME SEED PASTE)

Steps:

• In a food processor, finely chop the garlic cloves. While processor is running, through the lid, gradually add 3 tablespoons of the olive oil to the garlic and mix garlic into the oil. Stop food processor. Open lid and add the peanut butter. Close and start processor. Beat until peanut butter, oil and garlic start to mix. While processor still running, gradually add through the lid the lemon juice homogenizing it into the peanut butter mixture. Stop processor.
• Open garbanzo beans. Drain liquid off the garbanzos but retain a few tablespoons of the liquid and set aside.
• Open lid and add the garbanzos to the peanut butter mixture. Close processor lid and start processor.
• Puree the garbanzos homogenizing them into the peanut butter mixture with the food processor running. Only if it is too thick, add, a tablespoon at a time, some of the retained garbanzo liquid until the hummus is a smooth, thick texture. You don't want it too soupy.
• As processor is still running add salt.
• Stop processor and test the hummus for proper balance of lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and salt. The tanginess should balance with the flavor of the peanut butter and garbanzo. Adjust to taste. One note: be careful with the lemon juice. It quickly overwhelms the other flavors if you're not careful.
• To serve, spread hummus into a shallow serving dish and pour remaining olive oil over the top and swirl it backward gently with a spoon to spread it over the surface of the hummus.
• Garnish as desired. Traditionally, in addition to the olive oil poured over the top of the finished hummus other garnishes are sometimes added over the top of oil. Example of some finishing garnishes are finely chopped parsley and/or paprika.
• Also, often for color, and because they taste good with hummus, tomato wedges are placed around the edge of the hummus, inside the serving bowl (on top of hummus around rim of dish).
• It is eaten usually dipping pocket bread into the hummus.