Toasted Sesame Houmous with Corn Tortilla Chips

Houmous or Hummus – however you spell it, I bet you love it.

In the UK, houmous has grown from being something people thought only hippies ate, to a staple seen in every chiller cabinet up and down the UK’s supermarkets.

As Brits, we eat over 12,000 tonnes a year and its popularity shows no sign of waning.

It is high in protein and iron and can help to reduce cholesterol amongst other great health benefits such as fighting cancer and reducing inflammation.

As you possibly know, the main ingredient of houmous is chickpeas (did you know garbanzo beans are another name for chickpeas?) along with olive oil, tahini (sesame paste), garlic, lemon and cumin.

It’s really easy to make in a blender and I love whipping up a batch every now and then in my Optimum 9400 from Froothie. The super blender whips right through the ingredients making light work of the process. (And to clean up after I just add some boiling water, a touch of washing up liquid, pop it on high for a minute and it cleans itself.)

I came across a version of houmous on the Food Network America website which also incorporates toasted sesame oil into the ingredient list.

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Toasted sesame oil was something I had never come across until a few years back. For years I had tried to make Chinese takeaway style fried rice at home and could never quite achieve ‘that’ particular flavour. Then I discovered toasted sesame oil in the supermarket and as soon as I opened the bottle, it just smelled of Chinese takeaway. Gorgeous.

When I saw the recipe for toasted sesame houmous, I had to give it a try. And, I loved it. It’s like the regular creamy houmous that we love but with an added toasted, nutty flavour going on. I made a huge bowl for a family gathering and my cousin’s partner practically ate the entire bowl!

I also made some tortilla chips to go with the dip which were super easy to conjure up. I used corn tortillas as opposed to wheat ones and this provides a slightly sweet taste and a firmer texture to the chips. I simply cut up a batch of shop-bought tortillas, sprayed them with some low-cal cooking oil spray and baked them in the oven until lightly browned, turning once during cooking time. Sprinkled after with salt, these were a tasty homemade treat to dip into the flavourful toasted sesame houmous.

Give this a try as a snack for the weekend, or to watch during the footie!

Here’s how it’s made.

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Toasted Sesame Houmous with Corn Tortilla Chips

by S Vettese June-13-2016

Houmous made with toasted sesame oil and home made tortilla chips

Ingredients

• 425 gram can of chickpeas
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons tahini paste
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/2 clove of garlic
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 package corn tortillas
• Can of low-cal oil spray
• to taste salt and pepper

Instructions

Place the chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini paste, cumin, garlic and oils in a blender and whizz until smooth.If the mix is too thick, add some water to loosen it up to the right consistency.Season to taste with salt and pepper and spoon into a serving bowl and place in the fridge.Preheat the oven to 180C and line a couple of baking sheets with greaseproof paper.Spray each tortilla with cooking oil spray until each side is coated.With a pizza cutter, cut the tortillas into wedges. Each tortilla should yield about 12 wedges.Spread evenly over the baking sheets and bake for 6 minutes, remove and turn over.Bake for another 4 minutes or so until golden brown.Remove from the oven and season with salt and pepper.Remove the houmous from the fridge and pour over more olive oil to garnish.Dig in!

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 20 mins Yield: Lots

Disclosure Statement: I received the Optimum 9400 free to review. Any opinions expressed are my own.