Hummus

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

Hummus is one of the emblematic dishes of Arabic cuisine. In fact, hummus is a paste or snack that is traditionally made from chickpeas and sesame tahini with the addition of spices, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic.

This food paste comes from the Middle East, where it is extremely popular among all, which is the reason why the taste of hummus in our country has many fans.

The word "hummus" itself comes from Arabic and Hebrew and is used for food, pasta and chickpeas.

In Arabic as hummus bi tahina”is recognized only hummus with sesame tahini, not chickpeas. When the taste of hummus was still being developed and refined, one of the culinary experts led to the creation of hummus with forty spices, which was reserved for the sultan.

Today, hummus is prepared in different variants, some of which contain yogurt, nuts, parsley, but in addition to these, there are many other variants. In the Middle East, hummus is most often eaten with thin Arabic bread, but around the world this snack is most often consumed with corn chips.

Among the many variations of the recipe for hummus, the most famous varieties are hummus ful - combined with bean paste, which is pureed smoothly, hummus masubha / mashausha - with chickpeas and sesame tahini, hummus mahluta - with warm chickpeas and ful. In addition to being quite tasty, hummus is also a popular food among vegetarians and vegans because of its nutritional composition.

Composition of humus

Due to its combination of ingredients, hummus is nutritious and very useful. It contains an enviable amount of protein, dietary fiber, iron, the levels of which depend on the variations of the recipe. This is the reason why hummus also has variable amounts of monounsaturated fats.

Chickpeas contain very little fat, and the obligatory ingredient in the paste is olive oil, which contains large amounts of monounsaturated fats and very little saturated fat.

Hummus does not contain sugar, unless you decide to add a pinch or two to your home-made chickpea dip. In addition, this chickpea appetizer is rich in fiber (soluble and insoluble), while being an excellent source of complex carbohydrates and proteins.

In general, the combination of chickpeas, sesame tahini, garlic, olive oil and lemon juice makes hummus very rich in vitamins, minerals, with an emphasis on iron. The ingredients in hummus determine its glycemic index, which is about 12.

Besides everything else hummus is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, and tahini in its composition is a source of calcium, protein and essential fatty acids. High levels of the important vitamin E are also found. In turn, garlic and lemon in hummus are powerful antioxidants.

Recipe for hummus

Incredibly tasty and quite cheap to prepare, hummus is something tasty and useful that you should often cook at home. You can use both fresh and canned chickpeas for this purpose. If you use fresh chickpeas, it is necessary to soak it in enough water from the night before. It is good to change the water at least once.

Cooking the chickpeas then takes about 2 hours. Its husks are easily separated, but even with them, the humus is perfect. You can also boil chickpeas in a pressure cooker without pre-soaking. The next step is to drain some of the water in the chickpeas and save about 1 teaspoon, which you need to add to the pasta.

Chickpeas are mashed with their broth, salt, lemon juice, a few spoons of sesame tahini, 2-3 cloves of garlic, lemon juice and olive oil, which you can add when serving if desired. Add enough water from the cooking of chickpeas to get the desired consistency of hummus.

Finally, serve the prepared hummus, sprinkled with a little red pepper, olive oil and parsley if desired. Quite often, various other spices such as cumin, hot red pepper or onion are added to the snack. We offer you the exact proportions for the original recipe for chickpeas, which you can prepare in the steps described above:

Necessary products for humus

chickpeas - 1.5 tsp; tahini - 2 tablespoons; garlic - 4 cloves; water - 3/4 cup; lemons - juice of 2 lemons; olive oil - 1-2 tbsp.

red pepper - 1 pinch; parsley - or other spices as desired.

Dishes with hummus

If you've been to an oriental restaurant, it's almost impossible to miss the hummus, which is usually served as a snack or as a side dish to main dishes. Hummus is often served in the east as a sauce for falafel and various vegetable dishes.

This delicious chickpea dip has a pleasant taste spread on slices of wholemeal or white bread - toasted or fresh. The diet requires you to combine hummus not with foods rich in fats and carbohydrates, but with those that are a source of protein. In this line of thought, hummus would go perfectly with fish, seafood or meat.

Quite often, hummus can be garnished with mushrooms, pine nuts, tomatoes, cucumbers, slices of thinly sliced onions. When serving the pasta, you can add a few whole grains of cooked chickpeas for decoration and sprinkle with parsley leaves. We advise you not to miss the thin stream of cold-pressed olive oil on top, because it combines all the flavors that make up chickpeas. Hummus is part of an Israeli salad, and also goes well with grilled chicken or eggplant.

Benefits of hummus

As mentioned, hummus can be a healthy and dietary food suitable for all ages and even vegetarians. The ingredients in the composition of the chickpea paste do not raise the blood sugar level, and on top of that it is quite filling for hours, and in practice you can not feel hungry.

If you follow a diet, you can reduce the amount of sesame tahini or not add at all. Even if you puree chickpeas with spices to taste and a little garlic and onion, the pleasant taste is guaranteed.

Quite often the kupeshki hummus has the addition of various enhancers, flavors and preservatives, which is not recommended and ultimately make the product questionable in terms of health benefits. Homemade hummus, on the other hand, guarantees that it is made from completely natural ingredients.

Omega-3 fatty acids, which are the source of humus, hide a number of health benefits and are able to prevent the occurrence of cardiovascular disease.

Sesame tahini is a valuable source of calcium, protein and essential fatty acids, vitamin E, which slows down the aging process of cells in the body.

The olive oil in the recipe for hummus contains large amounts of monounsaturated fats and very little saturated fat, which means in practice that it regulates cholesterol levels and prevents the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. The antioxidants in garlic and lemon are a source of health. They reduce oxidative stress in the body and have a positive effect on the immune system.