My FF Anniversary gift: my ‘holy grail’ homous recipe..

As I prepared for this post, I thought about all of us around the world who were all prepping and photographing and writing about our offerings for this Fabulous First Fiesta Friday Anniversary Party – I could almost feel the connection between all of us as we prepared to celebrate the wonderful weekly gathering that Angie has created, and it made my heart sing, it really did.

I cannot go any further without also mentioning all of the co hosts who have supported Angie as the parties have grown; you are all so welcoming and do such a great job, thank you all so much. And this week, Julianna and Hilda will no doubt continue the great work and look after us all superbly 🙂

And so, for my part, I have decided to bring you an gift: my ‘holy grail’ homous recipe. This is the recipe that I stand by and use to make my own homous every week; it works every time for me and I hope it will for you too. I must add that I now only ever make my homous in my NutriBullet and it does a super fast job of making super creamy homous. If you don’t have a NutriBullet, use whatever you have to create the texture you would like. If you only have a food processor and would like a smoother dip, use a stick blender to create finish it off.

Please note:
*I’ve tried making homous with dried chickpeas that I’ve cooked and cooled, and with canned chickpeas, that I’ve washed (and washed!) and drained; I’m happiest with the canned chickpeas. They are in salt water, so I don’t add any extra seasoning to the dip. This is only my choice of course.

*I use arabic tahini; this is a key point as I have recently been researching tahini (yes, I am that sad!) and arabic tahini is a lot thinner than greek tahini. If you use a greek version, maybe Cypressa or Sunita, you may want to add a tiny extra bit of water, but wait until you’ve made and chilled the homous before you decide that as the mixture will stiffen in the fridge.

So, here it is…
1 x 400g can of chickpeas, washed well and drained
100g tahini
100-150ml water (add the lesser amount then increase to get the consistency you want)
50-75g lemon juice (to taste – I like the higher amount, and lemon juice is key to good homous)
2-3 garlic cloves (again to taste – I like lots!)

And that’s it. Chuck it all in the blender and whizz it all up, and there you have it. A beautiful, easy, fresh homous.

I happily eat it as it is, love it in fact, or I add other things to it to make different versions and tastes. Today I added some of my homemade harissa to some; some homemade ‘toum’ (Lebanese garlic sauce) to another; and some chopped black garlic to the rest.

And these are what I used to create my canapés for the Fiesta Friday block party, I hope you like them!

I used red peppers to create little boats, but you could use celery sticks or cucumber slices, bread/toast discs, whatever you like. I topped some with toasted pine nuts, some with sumac and other with aleppo chilli flakes.

And I’ve been waiting to use these beautiful dried rose buds that I got from Just Ingredients for ages – this is the perfect opportunity!

I hope you enjoy my canapés and enjoy the party: happy fiesta and happy weekend 🙂