Houmous / Hummus

As a Greek it is my obligation to like houmous, luckily I also thoroughly enjoy it. I have always bought it in the past, enticed by the good thing that comes in small packages but I decided this time to make it. The recipe is so simple, so quick and cheaper and better than what you buy in the shops. I would recommend halving the recipe if you don't need too much - you will need:

• 2 x cans of cooked chickpeas
• Olive oil & Garlic infused olive oil
• Salt
• Lemon
• Tahini
• A little boiling water
• Paprika (optional)

Drain the chickpeas from the water and rinse. As they are already cooked you can put them straight into the food processor BUT for extra creamy houmous you can use dried chickpeas adding baking powder to make them fluffier or put the cooked ones in some boiling water for a couple minutes max with a little baking powder. In terms of garlic, I think raw garlic is awful so I prefer to use a garlic infused olive oil so the garlic flavour is subtle and really from here on out it is a bit of intuition. Add about a tablespoon or two of tahini, a tablespoon of garlic infused olive oil, keep whizzing and add lemon and more olive oil and salt until it starts to resemble houmous. I think it is best to add small amounts of all the ingredients and keep tasting to ensure it is exactly how you want it. Sabrina Ghayour has an excellent recipe in her book Persiana. Which if you don't own already, go and buy immediately.