If you like hummus … you can easily make it yourself. It’s not hard … and since it’s a gourmet food, you can say you are a gourmet chef once you have done. Here are all the ingredients you need:

Olive oil, Sesame seed oil, Garbanzo beans/Chick peas (they are the same thing known by two names) or Great Northern Beans, Salt, pepper, garlic if you like … and a food processor.

Here are a bunch of things you can add to give it a twist of flavor:

Any one or two of the following … Garlic, roasted peppers of any kind, Sun dried Tomatoes, Jalapeños, avocado, chocolate – (yes some people do this, I don’t), Pine nuts, Sriracha … really anything you like the taste of …

If you don’t follow a recipe, you really are a gourmet chef – So don’t follow a recipe. Instead follow a basic process – just do it and serve it like a boss the next time ANYONE is in your house to eat a snack … tell them you made it yourself :-). The first decision is to decide which bean or beans you are going to use – there are nutrient/vitamin differences between the two, so look that up to learn more about that. Secondly, decide what ‘flavor’ you might want to add. Do that and then get busy.

1 – Wash your hands, the processor and the beans in that order. you are on your own to figure the first two. For the beans, use a strainer and rinse in cold running water till there are no bubbles forming as the water rushes over the beans and everything looks clear. if you use Garbanzo/Chick peas, the skin is something you will see washing off from some … which if fine and you can choose to remove all skins if you want … or not. They do add a texture to the finished product … or maybe they don’t depending on how long you pulverize in the Ninja. You choose what to do about the skins. I leave them be personally.

2 – Don’t measure anything from this point forward … this is a process where the look and feel (consistency of the hummus) will guide you and the taste is boss … your taste.

Don’t use more beans than your food processor can handle. Mine is a 1 can capacity model, so perfect for how much I make in a batch at a time. Pour the beans in, add some olive oil and process! Then add some more olive oil and process … and some more and process some more. Then process until it has the consistency you like. Once you think you have enough olive oil in there, use a rubber spatula to push down the hummus building up on the wall of the processor … and a dash or two of sesame oil. Keep processing until the consistency is close or at the way you like it … nice and Smooth.

3 – Add some salt and pepper. I use a grinder, fine setting, and do about 3-4 twists of both …sometimes more of the pepper, sometimes not depending on any other flavor I might be adding.

4 – Add your flavor items and process. Add more and process until it has the nice smooth consistency you like. When you are done, use that rubber spatula to put it in a fancy bowl you like and set it next to bread, crackers or fresh veggies. Done. Smile. Boss. No measuring. Winner.

Why do it when the stuff is so cheap at the store? It’s still cheaper to make it at home … and the confidence you gain the more you prepare ANYTHING you eat instead of buying prepared food is priceless … plus, likely better for you in many many ways.

But the real reason? My daughter just had her wisdom teeth pulled. I thought Hummus with some soft bread might be a good snack on day 3 of recovery 🙂

Enjoy! – Dom

For mine … I used the Great Northern Beans, roasted Orange Bell Peppers in Olive oil and Garlic (which is also what I chopped up and put on the top of the finished product. I served it in the bowl I intend to keep it in the refrigerator in, and I served with left over peppers and some croutons I made a couple days ago from stale French bread.

AND … I got impatient, didn’t process as long as I normally do so it wasn’t as smooth as it could have been. But it will be gone by tomorrow and no guests will ever see this batch … except you 🙂

Here’s a closer look at the two oils I use … I like both brands just fine.