Hummus

Hummus is one of those things best made fresh from scratch, and neither grocery store nor restaurant versions can compare. Serve with crunchy veggies, olives, feta and warmed pita bread. Check out the photos of the demo we did on our Facebook page.

Makes 4 cups.

1 cup garbanzo beans

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup tahini

3 tablespoons olive oil

2-3 teaspoons cumin seed, ground

1-2 cloves garlic

Soak garbanzo beans overnight. Discard soaking water, and place in a pot and cover with water by about an inch. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Simmer for 30-40 minutes until tender. Strain and reserve cooking liquid.

Place all ingedients in a food processor or high-speed blender. Add just enough of the cooking liquid to get the mixture moving. Process to desired consistency.

Note: You can also substitute 2 15 oz. cans of garbanzo beans, drained, for this recipe - just use water in place of the cooking liquid.

Garnish hummus with a sprinkle of sumac (or Israeli Zahtar or Syrian Zahtar) and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. (This would be where you could use that good extra virgin olive oil you have.)

Serving suggestions:  You can split this recipe into three different bowls, and flavor them with various spices, such as -

- 1 Tbl. Israeli Zahtar (more to sprinkle on top)

- 1 Tbl. Urfa Biber (more to sprinkle on top)

- 2 tsp. Berbere, ground (more to sprinkle on top)

- 1 Tbl. Syrian Zahtar (more to sprinkle on top)

- 2 tsp. Harissa, ground (more to sprinkle on top)

- 1 Tbl. Aleppo Pepper (more to sprinkle on top)