Hummus (Humous? Hummos? Hoummus?)

Everybody has their own way of making this Mediterranean/North-African staple - the only non-contentious point being that it contains ground chickpeas. Some people insist that it should be mixed with tahini - the sesame seed paste - but I truly believe that the taste of mine (with my Jewish ancestry) is the kosher deal!

I buy dried chickpeas in kilo bags - about 80p - and cook the lot off in the pressure cooker, which has lost its weight! Without any pre-soking this takes a little over an hour; rinse under cold water and what I don't require immediately I spread on a tray and freeze.

For this recipe put 500g of chickpeas into a food processor and whizz. For best results I now transfer them to a liquidiser and mix with 1.5 dstsp Garlic purée, half a dstsp Salt, 1 dstsp ground Cumin and 2 dstsp Lemon Juice.

With the motor running  drizzle in 300ml Olive Oil. To finish, if the paste is a little dry I add  1 dstsp of warm water. For the best taste chill overnight.

For lunch today I had a bowl of this with salad, olives, pitta bread and a hard-boiled egg and cress with tarragon & lemon mayonnaise.