Forgot the tahini? Try this quick and easy hummus recipe.

The sun’s shining and it’s getting pretty hot already.  Perfect weather for heading off to the beach for the weekend.   And beach days mean coming up with tasty and creative picnic ideas.

I’d got loads of fresh vegetables in the fridge which would be great for dipping so thought I’d whip up a quick batch of easy hummus to go with our lunch or as a mid-morning snack.

I’d already got the chickpeas and garlic in the food processor before I realised that there was no tahini in the fridge.  I couldn’t face heading back to the chaos at the supermarket so I thought I’d take a gamble, blitz it up and try for a tahini free hummus.  Is that actually even a thing?  Technically I doubt it’s actually hummus without the sesame paste but well honestly I’m sure I’m not the only person who doesn’t have a jar of tahini paste in the fridge and it turns out the ‘hummus’ tastes pretty darn good without it.    I still like my hit of sesame so I added a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil to enhance the flavour of all that garlicky goodness.

This recipe makes enough to serve 4 people.

Easy Hummus Ingredients

• One can of chickpeas
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic
• 2-3 T olive oil
• 1 t sesame oil
• 1/2 t salt
• Water
• Pinch of pink salt flakes
• Pinch of a sweet smoky paprika

Putting it all together

1. Place the first 6 ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and blitz well.
2. If it’s not coming together as a smooth creamy paste you’ll need to drizzle in some water until it does.  I normally find I need about 2-3 tablespoons of water but you may need a little more.  Add it gradually so you don’t end up with it too runny.
3. Place into a bowl to serve and sprinkle over the salt and paprika.
4. Serve with vegetable sticks, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, crackers or wedges of pita bread.

What do you think, can I still call it my easy hummus without the tahini paste?