Hummus & 6 Ways to eat it!
I distinctly remember the first time I had hummus. It was 2007 New Years eve and my family was at a party where the host “went all out.” By this, she meant having going exotic with her food. Hummus was one the things she showed off along with store-bought pita. The dip was interesting, creamy like peanut butter, with the flavour of a subdued garlic. It wasn’t my favourite but I was definitely intrigued. As I grew older, so did the popularity of Middle Eastern food in India and my growing love for the dip.
In college, I started my first cooking exploration by making sandwiches with store-bought turkey slices, some wholewheat chips, and a good slather of store-bought hummus. It wasn’t until my senior year when an e.coli outbreak in my favourite hummus brand’s product resulted in me making hummus for the first time. The canned chickpeas, tahini— a peculiar smelling sesame seed butter, and garlic make for a beautiful emulsification of fat and carbohydrates that accentuates even the slightest of flavours such as olive oil and lime.
The recipe for a good hummus is pretty basic with each element as crucial as the other, so don’t skimp on the ingredients to attain that gorgeous emulsification. Swipe along to see my hummus and 6 different hummus toasts! Go try them all.
Classic Hummus
Ingredients
2-2.5 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
2 Medium lemons
3 garlic cloves
½ cup tahini, well mixed
2tsp salt
10 cranks freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp of sumac
1 tsp red chilli powder
3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Sumac and/or sesame seeds (for serving)
Method
Cut 2 lemons in half, remove any visible seeds, and squeeze juice into a small bowl. You should have 3–4 Tbsp
Combine olive oil, garlic, and tahini in a food processor and blitz well
Add drained chickpeas, spices, salt, and lemon juice
Finally, add pepper and serve with a drizzle of oil and sesame seeds.
Pico de Gallo Hummus Toast
Pico De Gallo (or millennially known as, “Pico”) is nothing but fresh salsa. Making this a simple toast lathered with hummus and salsa. But at least, now you have a fancy name for them!
Ingredients
Serves 4
2 tomatoes
1/2 green pepper
1 medium red onion
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 green chilli
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
Served with grated cottage cheese
4 tablespoons of hummus
4 pieces of multigrain toast
2 tablespoons of salted butter
Method
Cut all veggies, and mix with all other ingredients. Salt as appropriate
On a hot pan on low flame, add half the butter and add bread on top. Toast till the bottom is nice and brown, about 200 seconds. Add some more butter and flip. Toast for another 1 minute.
Prep: Toast, salsa, grated cheese
Italian Hummus Toast
Natasha came up with a version of this that I basically stole. It contains hummus that acts as a base on which sits some beautiful (and super salty) parma ham which is garnished with some toasted pine nuts (for the fat), cherry tomatoes (to kill some of that salty taste and cut the fat), and some olive oil (because everything tastes better with more olive oil).
Ingredients
Serves 2
4 strips of parma ham
2 teaspoons toasted pine nuts
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
8 cherry tomatoes sliced
4 tablespoons of hummus
Olive oil drizzle
Prep order
Toast, Add hummus, parma ham, red onions, tomatoes, pine nuts, and olive oil
Roasted Beet Hummus Toast
If you’re buying sumac for the hummus and you don’t know how else to use it, well here is one idea— in a yogurt sauce that is built by sheet roasting some beets. Beets are by far the most elusive of veggie with not many different use cases in terms of consumption. While this dish, uses no new technique to cook the vegetable, it does offer a new perspective to present it!
Ingredients
Serves 4
2 medium-sized beets
2 tablespoons of greek yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoon sumac
2 teaspoons of salt
4 tablespoons of hummus
Method
Heat an oven to 180 Celsius
On a baking rack, add aluminum foil. Place your beets and with a fork make holes running across the beets. This will help some of the steam to release and cook the veg.
Add salt generously all over the veggies, cover the beets with foil and then place in the oven for about 45minutes to an hour. Keep an eye on them by poking them with a fork. Once they are tender, they are good to be removed.
Remove from the over. Let cool for a minute and quickly remove the skin. Make sure the veggie is still warm when you do this, it’s far easier.
Cut into quarters or cubes and add them to a bowl. Add yogurt and sumac and mix well until the beets begin to bleed and you have this luscious pink sauce.
Assembly: Toast, Hummus, Beets, and any garnish (I chose spring onions)
Guac Breakfast Hummus Toast
Seeing the “avo toast” trend all over the ‘gram, I knew that the blog needed something that emanated avocados while staying away from the painfully basic. This is a rendition of that. Guacamole, fried egg, hummus, and a nice swipe of sriracha for just right amount spice and acid.
Ingredients
Serves 2
2 large eggs
1/2 avocado
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 medium onion
Juice of 1 small lime
2 tomatoes, cubed
2 tablespoons of hummus
Method
In a skillet on medium heat, add veggie oil and drop your egg. Cook slowly and add salt and pepper. Add drops of water next to the egg and cover. The steam cooks the yolks just a little
Guacamole is easy! Mash the avocados and mix well with veggies, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.
Assemble: Toast, hummus, egg, guac, garnish (I chose some sriracha)
Elote Salsa Hummus Toast
A Mexican grilled corn, Elote is by far the best way to eat an ear of corn. This is a salsa version of the elote with gas-roasted corn that is mixed with peppers, onions, smoked paprika, and a nice fresh shred of parmesan! Def give it a try!
Ingredients
Serves 4
1 ear of corn
1/2 green pepper
1/2 red pepper
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon of paprika
Method
On a high gas flame, slowly roast the corn until the tops begin to char, you hear the distinct “pop”
Slice the corn and mix well with all the other veggies
Assembly: Toast, hummus, salsa, and grated parmesan (optional)
Panko Shrimp Hummus Toast
By far THE BEST toast of them all. The panko shrimp is perfectly crispy with capers that salt the shrimp effectively, and the spring onions add this beautiful tinge of umami flavour that brings everything together. I’m salivating just writing this aaah!
Ingredients
Serves 2
6 shrimp
1 cup of panko
1 cup of all purpose flour
1 tablespoon of milk
1 large egg
2 teaspoons of capers
2 tablespoons of hummus
Salt and pepper
Method
In bowl mix egg and milk together
Bread the shrimp: flour, egg, panko and fry in vegetable oil heating at 180 Celsius. Cook on both sides for 2 minutes each once you get a light brown color on the skin.
Assemble: Toast, hummus, shrimp, capers, and spring onions
