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Recipe

Hummus with Za’atar

May 3, 2011 · By Monica Shaw

Hummus with Za'atar

People always say hummus is so easy to make, why buy it at the store? But whenever I make hummus, it’s always a huge mess: tahini seems to end up all over everything. And it takes many spelt pita bread wedges and carrot sticks of taste-testing to get the hummus just right.

But it’s so worth it, because homemade hummus is really special. You can make it as lemony or garlicky or tahini-y as you want, and customize it with spices, herbs, and add-ons like olives or roasted hot red chilli paper as I did in this case.

But the ultimate kick the pants for any hummus recipe is my new favorite thing: Za’atar, a Middle Eastern condiment made from dried thyme, sumac, and sesame seeds. Za’atar is often consumed with pita bread and olive oil, but it’s also a great add-on to hummus and other foods. Look at all these great inventions I found:

  • White Bean Salad with Za’atar [fatfreevegan.com]
  • Baked Whole Wheat Flatbread with Za’atar and Olive Oil [kalynskitchen.com]
  • Za’atar Popcorn [thekitchn.com]

Below are recipes for both hummus and za’atar, adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. The photo, however, was inspired by Heidi’s own picture of Hummus en Fuego on 101cookbooks (they say imitation is a form of flattery?). The bit about the tahini, well, that was the one bit of this post that was uniquely my own. And both are a great match for my spelt pita bread on the grill.
Enjoy!

Hummus

Adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. A great partner with raw veggies and spelt pita bread!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups drained well-cooked or canned chickpeas, cooking liquid reserved if possible
  • 1/4 cup tahini, or more to taste
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus oil for garnish
  • 1 clove garlic, peeled, or more to taste
  • Juice of 1 lemon, plus more as needed
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • paprika for garnish
  • Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish

Method

  1. Put the chickpeas, tahini, oil, garlic, and lemon juice in a food processor (or a blender for even smoother hummus), sprinkle with salt and pepper, and begin to process; add chickpea-cooking liquid or water as needed to produce a smooth purée.
  2. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more salt, pepper, or lemon juice as needed. Serve, drizzled with some olive oil and sprinkled with a bit of paprika or za’atar (below) and some parsley.

Za’atar

Adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup sesame seeds
  • 2 tbsp dried thyme
  • 2 tbsp sumac
  • salt and pepper

Method

  1. Toast the sesame seeds then leave to cool.
  2. Combine everything else in a container and toss together. Presto! Your za’atar is done!

About Monica Shaw

Veg lover, dog owner, hill walker, wild camper, avocado addict, nerd. I write about how to be awesome through a "smarter fitter" approach to eating, drinking, living and working.
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Recipe Rating




  1. Jes says

    May 3, 2011 at 7:46 pm

    I love the za'atar in the hummus–great idea! I've been trying to think of ways to incorporate more za'atar/sumac into foods since I bought a big bag of sumac at Penzey's a few months ago. I'm due for some yummy hummus.

    Reply
  2. Sonia@7spice says

    May 3, 2011 at 10:44 pm

    Waah!! Monica, you should frame this pic and hang on your kitchen wall. 🙂 Excellent and easy recipe and must try for me. Thank you! 🙂

    Reply
  3. Katie says

    May 9, 2011 at 8:21 pm

    Ah, yum. I've had an unbelievable craving for hummus lately, so this looks amazing!

    Reply
  4. Helen @ Fuss Free Flavours says

    May 11, 2011 at 9:14 am

    Lovely photo Monica.

    I now need to go and research the spelt pitta!

    Reply
  5. Monica says

    May 11, 2011 at 9:42 am

    Thank you, helen. Do try the spelt pitas. @CarlLegge can vouch for them: check out the pic of the spelt pita's he made: spelt pitas on twitpic.

    Reply
  6. Amanda Tempel says

    October 23, 2012 at 7:31 pm

    This looks so delicious! I can’t wait to make it! I’m always spending a ton of money buying hummus, and then I realized you can actually make it yourself 😀

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Hummus says:
    October 20, 2011 at 9:26 am

    […] adapted from smarterfitter […]

    Reply
  2. We’re going on a road trip! « A Little Breather says:
    June 22, 2012 at 4:20 pm

    […] Hummus to dip with veggies and pitas from Monica Shaw of Smarter Fitter […]

    Reply
  3. » Too Hot To Cook? Try These Cold & Delicious No-Heat Recipes BrightNest Blog says:
    July 15, 2012 at 3:01 pm

    […] Hummus with Za’atar @ Smarter Fitter […]

    Reply
  4. Top Ten Healthy Snacks for the Office | The Fitness Engineer says:
    October 24, 2012 at 12:46 am

    […] credits, in order of appearance: Stay Healthy, Pinterest Women, Coach Robb, Incredible Egg, Smarter Fitter, Food and Whine, Now and Then, Simply Recipes, Baked […]

    Reply
  5. FoodWeLove: east meets west | IKBENIRISNIET says:
    November 25, 2013 at 8:00 am

    […] recept voor hummus, 1 schaaltje (bron):  1 blik kikkererwten (uitlekgewicht: ong. 265 gram)  1 kleine citroen (alleen het sap)  1 […]

    Reply
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