Hummin' for Hummus: UPDATED!

When I was pregnant with C, one of my frequent craves was hummus with those multi-grain chips from Costco.  A couple of months ago, I started feeling the crave sneaking back in and this time, I decided to make it myself. 

The first batch was, well, alright.  I think the store-bought stuff I had during my pregnancy was much better.  At this point, I decided that experimenting with different flavors might be fun, so I tried sweet potato hummus, black bean hummus, and roasted garlic and rosemary hummus.  While it was also jsut alright, the sweet potato flavor didn't do much for me.  The black bean hummus simply tasted like a creamy bean dip.  And, the roasted garlic and rosemary was good--but certainly not to-die-for.  However, experimenting with these flavors firmed up my position as a hummus purist.  I am a fan of plain jane, garbanzo bean hummus.

So, I searched for a recipe better than the first batch.  I found one on allrecipes that was really quite good.  And then, while gawking at foodgawker a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a recipe for "The Best Hummus You Will Ever Eat" (that's really the title of the recipe) at Edible Moments.  I thought, "Sure. Why not?" and filed it into my internet favorites. 

Well, today, it came out of the "Try It Out" folder...and will head straight into the "Favorite Foods" folder.  This hummus really is the BEST I've ever tasted!  So much tastier than previous recipes and SO much better than purchased hummus.  If you've never tried hummus and even if you have, you need to give this recipe a try!  It will make you hum for hummus.

The Best Hummus You Will Ever Eat
(Adapted from Edible Moments)

3 Tbls cup tahini (sesame paste)
3 Tbls fresh lemon juice
3 Tbls olive oil
2 or 3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp hot sauce
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and puree. Place in bowl, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with paprika.  Serve with multigrain chips, corn chips, pita wedges, and/or chopped veggies.  (Or really, serve with anything you want.  It's GOOD stuff!)

NOTES: I am a fan of garlic, so I tend to add the max amount.  I used 3 LARGE cloves of garlic.  I also added in some extra olive oil (maybe 1/2 Tbls.) and extra lemon juice (maybe 1/2 tsp.) to loosen up the texture a little.  Also, I didn't measure the hot sauce, just splashed some in.

Extras Notes: (July 6, 2010) After playing with this recipe a few times, I updated the amounts of ingredients to reflect the changes I make when I make this hummus.  (I make it a few times a week now...)  That's the beauty of recipes--a few tweaks make them more personal.