If you don't know how to cook chick peas, click here for our page on How to Cook Beans Right.  It is important that you use dried chickpeas because chickpeas from the can will not taste as good.

If you're going to use canned chickpeas, you might as well just buy hummus ready made.  Be aware though, that packaged hummus is usually so full of salt and fillers that the best brand is maybe only 25-30% chickpeas.  That's freakin' scary.

You'll need to plan ahead for this.  For a kilo or 2.2 lbs. tub of hummus, you'll need a half kilo or a bit more than a pound of dry chickpeas.  Also, you'll need to cook your chick peas longer than if you're going to fry them or eat them whole.  You want a very soft chick pea that presses easily in your mouth, and doesn't feel too grainy.

While your chickpeas are cooking, roast some garlic.  If you have a clay garlic roaster, that is best, but if not, then loosely wrap a whole head of garlic in a pocket of aluminum foil, loosely twisted at the top, and bake this at around 300 degrees for an hour or so.

This will take some of the bite out of the garlic, and get some of the good healthy chemicals and vitamins from the skin into the flesh of the garlic.

Because there is so much water already in the chickpeas, you can use dried herbs.  You'll need about a teaspoon of dried parsley, and a couple of pinches of oregano.  You'll also need the juice of a whole lemon.  Don't use any short cuts with the lemon.  You want it to be fresh squeezed.  I also like to add about a teaspoon each of curry and cumin.

You'll also want to add around a tablespoon of olive oil.

Some like to add tehina to their hummus.  I think this is a matter of taste.  I like mine with all chick peas.  If you like yours with tehina, use about a half a cup.

Now, this is where it gets a little complicated, and starts to depend on tastes.

Once the chick peas are cooked, drain them, and put them in a bowl, and mash them until you have a pretty good texture like chunky peanut butter.

If you like your hummus with some texture, skip the next step:

***Using a spatula or the back of a spoon, or your hands, strain the hummus into another bowl, through a strainer,  This will leave the skin of the chick peas behind.***

Put the hummus, two cloves of your roasted garlic, and all the spices into a food processor, or prepare for alot more grinding.

Whizz everything together until it's smooth, and then taste it.  If it needs more salt, add some.  It doesn't take much.

Hummus can be served with pita or any other kind of flat bread.  It's nice to serve it drizzled with a little olive oil, and sprinkled with an herb called zaatar, and sesame seeds, pine nuts, onions, and/or some whole chick peas.  Once you taste hummus from home, you probably won't go back to store bought.

This can be stored in the freezer.  Just whip it really well when it thaws

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