Hummus Bi Tahini

Have a new food processor, or your food processor is just being a cranky old cow, give it a good work-out with hummus. Nothing tests out the capacity of a food processor than hummus, especially when you make the tahini just before it. Its a simple enough recipe, with all of 5-6 ingredients and a minimal preparatory time. The only thing that really needs to prepped are the chickpeas, either by soaking the dry chickpeas overnight or by soaking it for 4 hours in boiling water, in both cases with a little baking soda added to help it soften.

Ingredients

Tahini

• 1 cup white sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt to taste

Hummus

• 2 cups chickpeas
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• salt to taste

Method

Tahini

1. Roast the sesame seeds in a pan, and keep shaking it around to prevent it burning. 
2. Roast until the seeds are aromatic and have turned a light brown.
3. Take them off the heat and place into another pan to stop the cooking process.
4. Once cool, add it to the food processor and grind until fine.
5. Add the olive oil and some salt to the mash and run the food processor again to create a thick paste. 
6. This tahini can be stored away and used as a spread or dip.

Hummus

1. The quantities listed above will make about a 1/4 cup of tahini, or about 2 tablespoons.
2. Boil the chickpeas 4 cups water with the garlic and a tsp of baking soda.
3. Boil until cooked through, where you can crush the chickpeas between your fingers.
4. Strain the chickpeas and garlic and keep the cooking liquor aside.
5. Add the chickpeas, garlic, chili powder and tahini to a blender, add around 2 tablespoons of the cooking liquor.
6. Blend until smooth to create a thick paste. You can add a little more of the cooking liquor to make a lighter paste.
7. This hummus can be serves by itself with jalapeneos, or in a wrap with some  baby spinach, onion and a light fruit vinegar.