Yummus

It should be fairly obvious from some of my previous posts that I love chickpeas. And let me tell you, I really love hummus. The cumin, lemon, garlic and tahini. What's not to love. However, I have struggled to find a really good hummus recipe. And funnily enough, my new favourite one is not even proper hummus. It doesn't have any tahini or lemon in it. And it's modified from a recipe for chickpea burgers from the wonderful blog A Cosy Kitchen. I made the burgers a while ago, and when I was tasting the mixture for the burgers, I realised this is like hummus but much better. So with a few changes it became my new pseudo-hummus. It's so darn yummy it became yummus. 


Yummus (serves 3):
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp harissa paste
1tbsp ground cumin
1tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 can (230g) chickpeas
30g unsalted pistachios
2tbsp olive oil
salt to taste


Finely chop the onion and garlic, and saute until onion is done, about 5 minutes or so. Add harissa paste, cumin, paprika and cinnamon, and fry for another minute. Add about 2tbsp of water so that a paste-like texture forms. Combine the onion-spice mix, chickpeas, pistachios and olive oil and blend to a paste. Add water if needed. Season with salt to taste. Serve with carrot, cucumber and sweet pepper sticks.


One serving contains 260 kcal (17g fat, 21g total carbs of which 3.0g sugars, 8.5g protein)


The verdict:
Well, I guess it should be obvious from the above that I absolutely adore this. My only problem with it is that when I make a batch, I plan to eat it as a snack for the next few days. Often, it tends to just disappear right out of the bowl where I make it. Fancy that, disappearing yummus. 


Compared to the other recipes for (proper) hummus I have tried, I think the key to success here is that the frying somehow softens up the taste of the garlic, the onions add a wonderful slightly sweet taste, as do the pistachios. I'm usually not big on using salt in any food, but I would say, in this recipe, just give it a good pinch of salt. It somehow brings out the sweetness of the onions and pistachios to a whole new level. I think next time I'll try to throw in a bit of tahini as well, see if it gets even better or if it will mess up the perfect symphony of flavours.