Hummus Nutrition And How To Make It
July 16, 2012 in Nutritional Facts, Vegetarian Recipes
Hummus and its nutritional benefits to the body have been talked about as far back as Plato and Socrates and has been a staple of the Egyptian diet throughout history. This excellent dip or spread is spelled many different ways such as: hommus, hommos, hummous, houmous , hamos, and is actually the Arabic word for chick pea.
It is believed that chick peas have existed since prehistoric times, thriving in the hanging gardens of Babylon. Even though the exact origins of hummus can not be exacted, it has been a part of the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean diet for thousands of years. But what is definitely know is hummus made it’s way into America in the early 1900′s when large numbers of East Europeans and Middle Eastern people began to flood into the country and boy am I glad they brought the recipe with them!
Hummus is a good source of Dietary Fiber, Folate, Magnesium, Phosphorus & Copper as well as a very good source of Manganese.
chick peas - a good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein and Copper, and a very good source of Folate and Manganese.
sesame tahini - a good source of Thiamin, Phosphorus, Copper and Manganese.
lemon juice- a good source of Folate and Potassium, as well as a very good source of Vitamin C.
garlic- a good source of Calcium, Phosphorus and Selenium, as well as a very good source of Vitamin C, Vitamin B6 and Manganese.
cumin – a good source of Dietary Fiber, Thiamin, Phosphorus, Potassium and Copper, as well as a very good source of Calcium, Iron, Magnesium and Manganese.
coriander – a good source of Thiamin and Zinc, as well as a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Pantothenic Acid, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper and Manganese.
white pepper – a good source of Vitamin C and Copper, as well as a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Iron and Manganese.
sea salt – high in sodium
Here is a simple recipe for hummus bi tahina, but I would like to point out I have a family of growing boys so you may want to cut the ingredient measurements in half your first time…
- 4 cups cooked and drained chick peas (canned or cooked). Don’t be scared if the can says garbanzo beans, they are the same thing
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup sesame tahini
- 4 tbs lemon juice
- 4 tbs olive oil
- 8 garlic cloves peeled and roughly cut
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp ground white pepper
- 1 tsp ground sea salt
The first thing I do when preparing a meal is measure all of my ingredients first. Add chick peas, salt & pepper and water in a food processor like a cuisinart and set to the side. Heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Once heated add chopped garlic and saute until tender and slightly roasted looking. Add all of the spices and cook an additional 2 – 3 minutes. Add the spices and oil from the pan to the food processor with the chick peas in it. Next rinse the pan out with the lemon juice and add that to the chick peas as well. Blend the ingredients for approximately 30 seconds then add the tahini. Blend until smooth and creamy. If the mixture is too thick just drizzle a little extra olive oil into the food processor, a bit at a time, until smooth and BAM! You have a kick-butt batch of homemade hummus bi tahina!
