Hummus

What is Hummus?

Hummus is a culinary preparation typical of the Middle East.

Hummus is an Arabic noun found in the vocabulary of many countries (albeit with different pronunciations and accents) which, in their culinary tradition, include this dense accompanying sauce based on legumes (throughout the Middle East ... up to Turkey and the Greece).

Hummus is known above all as an Israeli national dish but, as can be deduced, its origins are very ancient and not well localized in the territory. It is used as a sort of "spreadable cream" to accompany unleavened bread or Arab bread [ pita ] and falafel (fried fava beans or chickpea balls and other ingredients); Hummus is also a typical ingredient of shwarma (typical middle-east street sandwich) and is frequently used as a meze (appetizer) in combination with raw vegetables.

Hummus preparation

Hummus is a cream made from the combination of: chickpea mixture, sesame seed or sesame butter [tahine or tahina], oil, lemon and spices.

Ingredients for around 500g of Hummus : dried chickpeas 150g, sesame paste 10g [tahine or tahina], juice of 2 lemons, extra virgin olive oil 30g, garlic 1 clove, cumin 10g, chopped or powdered chilli 5g, chopped parsley 10g (1 tuft), QB salt, QB hot water (to obtain the desired consistency of the dough).

Preparation of Hummus : soak the chickpeas overnight; rinse them, cook them in cold water (pressure or casserole) and drain them.

Separately, in a pan, add a tablespoon of oil + chilli + cumin + garlic and leave to heat over low heat (be careful not to burn the chilli pepper or stinging fumes will make the air unbreathable and make the eyes tear) and in a according to the moment add the chickpeas and leave to flavor for about 2 minutes.

Squeeze the lemons and chop the parsley.

"Mix" or blend the contents of the pan by adding the sesame paste + lemon juice + 2 tablespoons of raw extra virgin olive oil and add water until it reaches the desired consistency.

Serve the Hummus in a wooden bowl and garnish / sprinkle with chopped parsley and chilli pepper, accompanying slices of unleavened bread or toasted pita and some falafel.

Recipe for preparing hummus at home

Homemade Hummus - Chickpea and Sesame Cream

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Nutritional aspects

Hummus is certainly a very rich accompanying sauce, both from an energy point of view and from a vitamin and mineral point of view. Contains iron, fiber, carbohydrates and proteins with a medium biological value of chickpeas (which compensate for those with low biological value of unleavened bread / Arabic completing the pool of essential amino acids); there are monounsaturated, polyunsaturated (PUFA) and tocopherol fats present in extra virgin olive oil and tahine, as well as numerous vitamins and antioxidants from spices, parsley and lemon.

The following are the nutritional values of the humus separated and differentiated for the various foods

Hummus 500g		Nutrients
Ingredients	g	Proteins (g)	TOT Carbohydrates (g)	Lipids (g)		Energy (kcal)	Fiber (g)	Iron (mg)	Vit. C	α-tocopherol
Ingredients	g	Proteins (g)	TOT Carbohydrates (g)	TOT	PUFA	Energy (kcal)	Fiber (g)	Iron (mg)	Vit. C	α-tocopherol
Dried chickpeas	150	32.7	81.45	7:35	5:19	501	20.7	9:15	0	0
tahine	10	2.6	1.2	6	-	69.2	0.5	0.1	0	-
Lemon juice	100	00:35	6.9	00:24	00:02	22	0.3	00:08	38.7	00:02
Extra virgin olive oil	30	0	0	29.7	3:16	269.7	0	00:17	0	4:31
Garlic	5	00:32	1.65	00:03	00:01	7:45	00:11	00:07	1:56	0
Cumin	10	1.78	4:42	2:27	00:33	37.5	1:05	6.64	0.77	00:33
Chili pepper	5	0.67	2:49	0.71	0.4	14.1	1.74	14.96	00:04	1.91
Parsley	10	2.97	0.63	00:08	0012	18	3.3	0.62	133	0.75
TOT		41.39	98.75	46.33	9:03	938.95	27.70	31.78	174.07	7:32
Hummus 100g		8:28	19.75	9:26	1.81	187.79	5:54	6:36	34.81	1:46