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4 WAYS TO MAKE HUMMUS YOUR SOURCE FOR PROTEINS AND FIBER.

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Today I want to share with you one of my favourite food dips: Hummus! Rich in protein and delicious!

Hummus is made of the protein-packed legumes, such as chickpeas, which have a mild and nutty flavor and sesame seeds. I absolutely love preparing hummus at home from scratch, playing with different herbs and spices while trying new flavors. However, not everyone knows how to get the best out of Hummus and its proteins. As just eating Hummus itself does not get you the best of its proteins. It is all in the way you make it.

So do your Hummus yourself, the right way.

Home cooked chickpeas are much more natural and healthy way to go. The main issue about canned chickpeas is that food manufacturers add extra salt and additives to preserve it and in order to enhance its taste and appearance, yuck!

I want to share with you 4 ways in which you can get the most value out of Hummus as your food dip. In general you want to do it yourself at home and achieve great consistency while at it. Here we go!

1. SOAK IT UP.

Soak the chickpeas overnight with 1tbls of lemon juice. Place the chickpeas in a large bowl, add 1 tblst freshly squeezed lemon juice and cover with cold distilled water (I use about 3 cups of water per 1 cup of dried chickpeas). Next cover the bowl with a clean towel or cheesecloth and place them soak in the refrigerator overnight. The chickpeas will expand to over double their size, so make sure you cover by several inches of water to allow for expansion.

Tip: Chickpeas are soaked with lemon juice before boiling for two reasons – one, they need to be softened before you boil them. Soaking in water with lemon juice really helps to reduce cooking time; and two, pre-soaking with lemon juice helps to make the chickpeas more digestible.

Chickpeas are one of the larger and harder legumes — and, therefore, one of the more difficult beans to digest. This is because they are high in oligosaccharides — complex sugars, which are difficult for our digestive enzymes to breakdown. All legumes have oligosaccharides, but smaller beans (like adzuki and mung beans) and lentils have lower amounts — so they’re easier to digest.

2. BOIL IT!

Boil the chickpeas for 30 min. Next day drain the water and rinse the chickpeas. Place them into a large saucepan and add cold water, I use the same proportion of water as for soaking. Bring the chickpeas to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or till desired tenderness. Keep an eye on the water level, as it will evaporate during cooking and the chickpeas will absorb some as it will continue to expand a bit. You can add additional water as needed to keep the chickpeas covered. When the chickpeas are fully cooked, drain in a colander and allow to cool.

3. GRIND IT.

Grind sesame seeds in paste, also known as tahini paste: Grinding sesame seeds is basically a 1 step method for homemade tahini.

I am absolutely excited about how easy it is for anyone to  prepare such a healthy dish, free from preservatives and at home. To make your own tahini, you only will need one ingredient: hulled sesame seeds (I personally always opt for organic seeds, whenever possible). I don't add any oil - the seeds have enough natural oils on their own to release. When making homemade tahini you can roast them to bring a deeper, nutty flavor, if you wish. This step is optional. To grind seeds to a paste I use The Matstone 6 in 1 Juicer, which also doubles up as a food processor producing seeds and nut butters, sauces, purees, baby foods, but you can also use a food processor. My machine allows to put 1 teaspoon seeds at a time, and grind finely. If you use a food processor, add the seeds to the food processor and process them – the seeds oils are released and as the mixture continues to warm, it should turn creamy and smooth and move around very easily inside the bowl of your processor. Now you can transfer your seed butter in a glass jar with a cover and keep it for several weeks in the fridge.

Tip: Tahini made from raw sesame seeds is lower in fat than tahini made from roasted seeds.

4. LET THERE BE HUMMUS!

Combine the ingredients together to make the hummus paste: First of all grind the cooked chickpeas to a paste (again, I use The Matstone 6 in 1 Juicer, but any high speed food processors will work). Next add the 1 cup chickpeas paste into the food processor, add 2 tbls sesame seeds paste, 1 crushed garlic clove, 1 tsp sea salt, 3 tbls freshly squeezed lemon juice, 3 tbls olive oil and 5 tbls water, and blend to a creamy purée. Add some herbs or spices to taste, it’s optional. Voila! It is ready to serve, simply drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

It is so easy and totally worth it to make your own home-prepared hummus. You also can let your creativity out, playing with different flavours by adding your desirable foods to your hummus.

Psss psss….just between us, but, secretly, my favourite is mango hummus, recipe on my website soon :) Besides being yummy, hummus also contains lots of crucial nutrients (most of which come from the tahini), such as copper, manganese and the amino acid methionine, healthy fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6. Hummus has relatively high level of calcium and protein, which makes it a useful addition to vegetarian and vegan diets. It also has high level of fiber and very low level of sugar and saturated fats.


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