Hummus has been a staple ingredient of Middle East food for thousands of years. It is a kind of starter, a paste prepared from chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, garlic and lemon juice. You may use it as a spread for pita bread or as a side dish for meat or vegetable dishes.

I make two types of "hummus". One with just the basic ingredients and another with dried tomatoes. You may add some parsley or dill so that your spread will be a nice green color. In my son's kindergarten the teachers have been trying to introduce hummus to the kids' diet. Unfortunately, so far this has been unsuccessful, which is too bad because it is an excellent source of magnesium, phosphorus and iron.

When preparing this spread you may start by making tahini. You need to dry-roast some sesame seeds (put a lid on the frying pan so that they don't go brown and make the spread bitter) and then blend them with oil. I take a short cut by blending the dry-roasted sesame seeds together with the chickpeas.

Version 1
Ingredients:
1 tin of chickpeas
3 tablespoons of sesame seeds
2 tablespoons of oil
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
salt and pepper
Dry-roast the sesame seeds and leave them to cool down. Add the seeds along with the garlic, oil and lemon juice to the chickpeas. Blend thoroughly. If the spread is too thick, add 2 tablespoons of water. Spice it up with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with sesame seeds before serving.

Version 2
Ingredients:
1 tin of chickpeas
¼ of onion
1 clove of garlic
6 dried tomatoes in olive oil
3 tablespoons of olive oil from the dried tomatoes
salt and pepper
Blend all the ingredients thoroughly. If the spread is too thick, add 2 tablespoons of water. Spice it up with salt and pepper.

Enjoy your meal!