my hummus is bland - why?

[iota]

made hummus for the first time today and am disappointed. It's too bland.

I made it with a can of chickpeas, drained, 2 x large dollops of tahini, 1 x teasp cumin, 3 x garlic cloves juice of 2 x lemons and a little olive oil.

have just added a roasted pepper to perk it up, but still need more oooomp.

More garlic?
or more cumin?

[Prufrock]

Well I didn't say how often mine tasted better . I make a batch at least once a week as dd is a houmous fiend and ds is rapidly becoming her (Did you know it is extrememly difficult to get houmous out of baby hair after you've let it dry for over 5 hours?)

[iota]

cook my own chickpeas - that's a step too far.

[Prufrock]

Lots less tahini, and more oliveoil, and it is essential to use a really zingy/peppery extra virgin oil. WWW I do Nigella's tip of greek yoghurt, and find it means you can have the extra oil without making it too greasy. And I have to say mine always tastes much beter when I can be bothered to soak and cook my own chick peas instead of using a tin

[RTMTMML]

never mind iota. I did wonder what happened. [wry smile emoticon]

[basketcase]

smoked paprika is fab in hummous, some in the mixture and a lttle on the top with a swirl of decent olive oil.
Also, can be nice if you reserve some of the chickpeas (handful) to the end and mash with a fork then put into the smoother mixture - the added texture is yummy. Don?t forget the salt and pepper - I know salt is not good for you but a little bit of salt nd a good amount of fresh ground pepper is great.
Try dry roasting your cumin seeds first as well - brings out the flavour.
HTH

(I LOVE hummous)

[iota]

and for those of you who care about my hummus:

I had a go at the second half of it today - mixed in loads of chilli sauce - made it slightly more palatable, but not very Greek-like.

dh washed it down the sink, so it's now polluting the local drainage system.

[Tinker]

When I've madet it was pretty crap. Boyfriend made it with a lot less tahini (or was it more??) and it was much better

[iota]

am now having a beer - thanks all for your suggestions

[iota]

added another clove of garlic to half of it, and some Gk yoghurt and some more salt and pepper. Marginal improvement.

Still tastes too oily. Ate some with dinner, but am chucking the rest. Too much flogging a dead horse.

The rest of dinner courtesy of dh (and M&S for falafel and stuffed vines leaves) was yum

[WideWebWitch]

Iota, I really want to know how your hummus turns out! Please report back!

[Catbert]

had same thing with own homemade hummus.

I added STACKS more garlic... STACKS! And a lot more lemon juice to offset the tahini thing...

It worked a treat!

[juniperdewdrop]

enjoy ur breezer

did you put black pepper in it btw? may help?

[iota]

ha - dh is cooking now - I'm going to sink a Bacardi breezer

[iota]

Mud - maybe I could do bowls-of-hummus smashing instead of plates

[iota]

OK here's the plan

1. More garlic - I mean how big is 2 cloves - skinny ones or fat ones?
   
   
2. Greek Yoghurt
   
   
3. chilli
   
   
4. red onion
   
   by then I will have a washing up bowl full of the damn stuff

[Mud]

are you going to smash plates then?

[Mud]

yeah, just have to keep it in the freezer till you next offal night I suppose

[iota]

Mud - not sure placenta would go with my Greek theme

[Mud]

[WideWebWitch]

Bet that's it, too much tahini. But nope, you can't take it out now! Next time I attempt it I think I'll add the tahini bit by bit to taste and ignore the recipe. Are you going to try the greek yog, I need to know!

[Mud]

I've read on MN that some people eat their placenta though

[iota]

MUd - I'm sure I read on MN that it is easy to make your own, so I gave it a go..
might revert to buying it next time

I do make a very nice Tzadziki though

[Mud]

mine always seems 'grainy'

I say mine, I've tried it twice and then gave up and just buy it from sainsbury's now