Recipe - Hummus (Non Spicy)

4 tablespoon Tahini; (sesame seed butter)
(up to 5)
One lemon; (more or less to
taste) , juice of
1 Or more cloves of garlic;
(again to taste I like
LOTS at least 4 cloves)
One half teaspoon Salt; (again to taste)
One fourth cup Juice from canned garbanzo
beans or from water they
were cooked in
1 pound Can garanzo beans; drained
Ground cumin
Paprika; (or ground cayenne
if you prefer)

From Najda and Arabic cook book

Put everything but spices in blender and process till smooth and thick. (If
no blender/food processor mash everything through a sieve) Add spies to
taste and mix.

If getting fancy, garnish with more powdered spice in lines like spokes of
a wheel and at the end points heap up small piles of chopped sour pickles,
green pappers, and chopped parsley. ( I almost never do this.)

Spread on a shallow plate with a bit of olive oil floated on the top (or
mix a bit of oil in while you are blending) and serve with pita bread torn
into rough triangles for dipping.
This is great stuff! It is low fat, VERY tasty, easy to transport, needs no
refrigeration, and has enough garlic in it to keep the mosquitos off you
for several hours. It is a nice appetizer/dip but also serve all by itself
as a light meal on those days when its too hot to cook/eat anything more
elaborate.

Posted to CHILEHEADS DIGEST by Lorraine Heidecker lheid@saclink.csus.edu
on Feb 9, 1998