Laurie and Terri's Famous Hummus

Hummus is a staple around our house and is often our contribution to potlucks. We make our own - people are sometimes in awe of that, but it's really pretty simple. We cook up some chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) - a few cups at a time so we can have some on hand for other dishes or we freeze some.

Even though one of us makes this every week or so, Laurie still has the recipe handy and follows it closely. I'm pretty loose with my recipes; I don't measure much. But we both make a mean batch of hummus!

To a couple of cups of cooked chickpeas, add:
-a couple tablespoons tahini (sesame butter)
-a teaspoon or so of salt
-a glug of olive oil
-a splash of lemon juice
-a few cloves of garlic

Whir it all together in a food processor (a blender works too). If it's too thick, add some of the bean liquid. If it's too thin, add more chickpeas.

I'm pretty heavy handed with the garlic, sometimes I'll use 4 or 5 cloves. Laurie likes to add roasted red peppers. Kalamata olives are a nice addition too.

You can serve it with crackers or a nice crusty bread, or try the traditional way of scooping it up with pita bread.

Hummus has been a staple food in Lebanon, Israel, Palestine and other Middle Eastern countries for centuries. From Wikipedia comes this tidbit: In May 2010, the Guinness World Record for the largest dish of hummus in the world returned to Lebanon. The winning dish, cooked by 300 cooks in the village of al-Fanar, near Beirut, weighed 10,452 kg (22,994 lbs, equal to 11.5 U.S. tons), more than double the previous record set by 50 Israeli Arabs and Jews who cooked 4,087.5 kg (8992.5 lbs) in January 2010 in the Arab-Israeli village of Abu Ghosh. According to local media, the recipe included 8 tons of boiled chick peas, 2 tons of tahini, 2 tons of lemon juice and 70 kg (154 lbs) of olive oil.

Wow. That's a lot of hummus.