Hummus

Hummus is a Middle Eastern chickpea dip accented with tahini (sesame butter), olive oil, garlic and lemon. It is flavorful enough to make raw vegetables exciting when dipped in or to liven up sandwiches and burgers. It is rich and creamy and the secret to getting it really smooth is to use chickpea flour instead of chickpeas themselves. A few years ago I was in Germany while following a vegan diet, luckily there were lots of Middle Eastern restaurants around, so I was able to avoid the bratwurst and basically lived off of hummus and falafel (and fritz) for a few weeks. One day I found a small health food store tucked away on a back alley riddled with cobblestones and went in to try and find some chickpeas to make the dip myself. The owner could barely speak English and I could barely speak German but through lots of sign language he taught me that the flour is actually what was used there more commonly and that it worked better. I thought he was crazy, the flour seems bland and chalky, but when you mix it with boiling water the magic happens.

The flour is very inexpensive and can be found at health food stores and ethnic markets. Chickpeas are a legume and nutritionally they are a good source of fiber, protein, folate and the minerals magnesium, potassium and calcium. Though sesame seeds are tiny they contribute substantially through even more magnesium, potassium and calcium plus some unsaturated fats. The olive oil adds even more unsaturated fats and a high amount of vitamin E. Unsaturated fats should make up a much larger part of our fat intake than the saturated fats found in red meats and full fat dairy products but they also need to be consumed in moderation, so share it with some loved ones.