Homemade Hummus

This past weekend, I went to a girls' night at my friend Melissa's house. Instead of doing dinner, we all brought munchies. I decided to try making hummus, a Mediterranean dish used in a variety of ways. One of the main ingredients, tahini, was hard to find in the grocery store, so I made that from scratch as well. I got my ideas from Recipezaar.com, and used what I wanted from them. Here's what I did:

First, I made the homemade tahini since I couldn't find this at the store:

Recipe #78359 from Recipezaar.com. You will need 4 cups sesame seeds and 1/4-1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Spread the sesame seeds on a shallow baking tray and bake, shaking frequently, until fragrant, 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Do not brown.
4. Cool.
5. Put the sesame seeds in a blender or food processor fitted with the metal blade.
6. Add the vegetable or olive oil.
7. Process to a smooth paste, about 5 minutes.
8. Add more oil if necessary, to bring the paste to a thick pouring consistency.
9. Tahini will keep stored in a tightly covered jar in the refrigerator for several months.

Next, I referred to Recipe #9232 and #51535 from Recipezaar.com, to make the dip:

Sun-dried Tomato Hummus

8 oz. jar sun-dried tomatoes
2 cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
4 garlic cloves
½ cup lemon juice
½ cup tahini
4 T. olive oil
4 T. fresh parsley
2 T. soy sauce
1 T. ground cumin
1 t. salt
1/2 t. ground red pepper flakes

1. In food processor, add all ingredients except tomatoes.
2. Process until smooth.
3. Place in a small dish and add tomatoes mixing evenly.
4. Serve with crackers, celery sticks, pita wedges, etc.

This above recipe turned out with a pretty good bite to it, which seemed to be from the garlic and pepper flakes. If you like milder tastes (or even bolder!), adjust recipe accordingly. Have fun trying it in different ways. When I sent Jonathan off this morning with his lunch, I rolled up leftover hummus in a tortilla, and added avocado, spinach, and shredded cheese!