Tahini

One of the ingredients in the hummus recipe I have on here is tahini. I've bought that at the store before but never made it from scratch, and it looked like it would be pretty simple to make, so I decided to give it a go. Besides, it is pretty expensive if you buy it pre-made. I bought the raw, hulled sesame seeds in the bulk section of a local grocery store.

Ingredients
-1 C sesame seeds
-1/4 C vegetable oil (I used olive oil)

Directions
-Preheat oven to 340°F (170° C).
-Spread your sesame seeds on a roasting tray, and toast in the oven for 15 minutes, stirring regularly to toast evenly. Do not allow to brown.
-Remove the sesame seeds from the oven and allow to cool briefly.
-Put the toasted sesame seeds in your food processor, with metal blades fitted, and add the oil.
-When the mixture is evenly smooth, transfer your tahini to a tight fitting glass jar using a flexible spatula, to reduce waste.
-Tahini may be kept in the refrigerator for many weeks in a well sealed jar.

One thing though, is that I do not have a food processor. So I'm trying it with a Magic Bullet MBR-1701 17-Piece Express Mixing Set instead. My kit came with two blades, and I tried the normal mixing one first but it wasn't doing the job. The flat blade did much better.

Hummus

I've been looking at hummus recipes around and about, and decided I'm going to try one tomorrow, keeping the ingredients I like and nixing the ones I don't. Here goes:

Ingredients

5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups cooked chick peas (or one can)
1 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup tahini
3 lemons, freshly squeezed
1 T olive oil
½ tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions
Combine all ingredients, blend until smooth.

My parents have a lemon tree, which might have some fruit on it right now. I'm not sure where my pepper is right now, as I just moved, so I'll need to find that. And tahini...I guess trader joe's might be the best place to find that? Not sure. I'll also want some pita bread :)

Will update this post after I've tried it.

Here's the nutrition information for a 2 tbsp (1/8 cup) serving

So I just finished making the hummus and it's delicious. It was a little difficult to get it fully blended; I was using my Magic Bullet and it was mixing well in about half of the vertical volume but the mixing action didn't reach the other half, so I kept reaching in there with a spoon and trying to integrate the layers. It seemed to work out in the end.

Very yummy!