Quick Creamy Houmous

With its creamy, nuttiness, Houmous is possibly the most versatile of dips. Simply by itself with some flatbread or raw vegetables,served alongside a lot of Middle Eastern dishes such as falafel, or in a tasty wrap with salad and grilled halloumi.

Prep Time10

Preparing Dried Chickpeas12 30

Total Time10

Course: Appetizer, Lunch, Side Dish, Snack

Cuisine: Middle East

Keyword: Chickpea, tahini

Servings:

Calories: 397kcal

Equipment

Blender or Food processor

Ingredients

2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp tahini
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 clove of garlic
½ tsp sea salt
400 g can of chickpeas or 110g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked – see below
¼ tsp cayenne pepper

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Firstly, if you are using dried chickpeas you will need to start this recipe the night before. Rinse the chickpeas to remove any dust and place in a large bowl with 2-3 times their volume in fresh cold water. Leave to soak overnight, or for 12 hours. Note: if I’m using dried chickpeas, and they are worth the effort, I do 2 or 3 times the amount I need as they freeze very well. See note below if you forgot, or don't have time to soak the chickpeas overnight.
Next you want to place the soaked chickpeas in a good amount of water, bring to the boil, and simmer gently for 1 ½ hours. Or, if you have a pressure cooker this speeds up the timing greatly and would only take 12-15 minutes. Or if you're like me, and haven't planned on cooking chickpeas, you can even cook unsoaked chickpeas in the pressure cooker for 45 minutes in total with a slow 15 minutes release.
To make the houmous, using your food processor or blender add in the tahini, lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil, and blend for a minute. Scraping down the sides.
Add in your peeled clove of garlic and ½ tsp salt and blend again for 30 seconds.
Add in the chickpeas (either the can drained and rinsed or 240g of your soaked and cooked dried chickpeas) and blend for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides, add in the ¼ tsp cayenne pepper, and blend again.
Check the consistency of the houmous, simply add water to reach the consistency required - you want it so it just drops off the spoon, but not so runny that it pours. Serve.

Notes

If you don't have the time, or forgot to soak your chickpeas overnight, simply use my how to cook dried chickpeas - no soak - recipe
I like my houmous to have a little hint of spice, but feel free to leave out the cayenne pepper if you want to keep it plain.