Hummus anyone ?

There is something fascinating about eating a ''foreign'' food. A food that we have not eaten growing up, and then when we discover or eat it for the first time, the entire experience is mysterious! Since we really don't know what it was supposed to taste like, we have an open mind in wanting to learn more about it. Hummus has been one of those foods for me. It's derived from the humble chickpea, a well known lentil in my household growing up. But in my 20s when I discovered that it could be transformed into a hummus, I was rather excited!

For the longest time, I did not realise it was so easy to whip up at home. I was always scouring stores and gourmet grocery shelves for the perfect jar of hummus. That's the thing about a food habit. It has the ability to grow on us over time. Hummus has a wonderful protein dense texture, a flavour that lends itself to a carrot stick or a piece of pita bread. In a wrap with lettuce or just by itself. It can literally take on many personalities depending on what type of plate one puts the hummus in. Similarly, it can be a star in its own right as well.

So whipping up a quick bowl of hummus is quite the no brainer. Ensuring that the chickpeas have been soaked overnight and pressure cooked is possibly the most time consuming part. Then a medley of simple ingredients like garlic, sesame paste, olive oil, salt, red chilli in various proportions get whipped up and served beautifully in this artistic bowl.

Serving it at home along with a round of starters and other accompaniments always makes it stand out and I've spent many evenings chatting about my hummus experiments!