Spicy Hummus

I have experimented with many different hummus recipes and through trial and error, ended up with this one: My absolute favourite. While hummus is mostly thought of as an Israeli dish, this recipe draws more on the Turkish tradition of using the spices with the hummus.

Ingredients

250g dried chickpeas soaked overnight (or 500g tinned chickpeas)

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp black pepper

2 red chillies de-seeded and roughly chopped*

1 tsp salt

1 tsp brown sugar

3 cloves garlic

100 ml Olive Oil

100g Tahini

Juice of 2 lemons (about 40 ml)

Handful of fresh coriander (leaf and stalks)

*For more spicy heat, leave the seeds in. For less heat, use just one larger mild chilli.

Method

1.     After soaking the chickpeas overnight, they should be boiled for 1 hour in good quality vegetable stock. (Skip this step if you are using canned chickpeas)

2.     While the chickpeas are cooking, prepare the spices: Dry roast the cumin and black pepper in a pan then grind them to a course powder in a pestle and mortar. Lightly fry the spice powder, garlic (whole), chillies and the fresh coriander (bash the stalks a bit before adding to the pan) in olive oil. Add a pinch of salt and then when starting to brown, remove from the heat and leave to marinate.

3.     Put the chickpeas into a blender. Save the cooking stock as it may be needed later.

4.     Add all the other ingredients and blend to a paste. Add some of the cooking water if needed.

To serve, sprinkle with smoked paprika. Great with raw sliced vegetables, pitta bread or as a side dish.