My best friend in high school was Iraqi, so naturally I ate a lot of delicious Arab food. From her mom’s incredible kunafe (if you know, you know) to her dad’s maqlooba, I loved it all! One of my favorites was Auntie Maha’s staple hummus. When I moved away, I realized I needed the hummus recipe. Since 2014, I’ve been making Auntie Maha’s hummus but every time, I tweak the ingredients or the quantities. A Palestinian friend suggested adding something spicy, hence the jalapeño. Another friend suggested adding cold water to give more fluffiness to the hummus. With all of these suggestions, I created a derivative of my dear Auntie Maha’s hummus recipe, and I hope it makes her proud!
Note: I have also seen some people add garlic into the hummus. If you’re a garlic person, feel free to add 2-4 cloves of garlic mashed into this. I don’t typically add garlic but that doesn’t mean you can’t!I also sometimes add the yolks from deviled eggs to the hummus to make hummus deviled eggs and they always come out great!
Homemade Hummus (A Family Recipe)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
- 1 jalapeño
- salt (to taste)
- 2-4 tbsp cold water (as needed)
- sumac (for garnish)
- olives (for garnish)
Instructions
- Boil chickpeas until skin begins to peel.
- In a blender, blend the tahini, lemon juice, and olive oil for 2 minutes.
- Once the chickpeas are boiled and have had a chance to cool down, add to blender and blend until paste-like appearance.
- With the blender on, add cold water to create fluffiness.
- Add jalapeño and salt (to taste) and continue to blend.
- Garnish with sumac, a drizzle of olive oil, and a couple of olives. Serve with pita bread or pita chips! And ahlan!