RECIPES

Sprouted Chickpea Houmus

Introducing raw food into my diet started with recipes like this. See how much lighter and energised you feel during the afternoon.

Adding hemp oil and seed makes it very good for you, if you add spinach or parsley it turns a lovely green and the combination with the hemp makes it a nutritional wonder!

Houmus and its flavour is one of those time-honoured kitchen discussions, very much up to personal taste, particularly concerning the amount of lemon and garlic you use. Check for both during the final seasoning.

Ingredients

• 100-150 grams of chickpeas (dry weight)
• 50 ml of hemp and/or olive oil
• 25-50 grams hemp seed~ finly ground
• Juice from 1-2 lemons
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 3-4 dessertspoons of tahini
• 100 ml of water
• Salt and pepper

Method

• Refer to The sprouted garden for chickpea sprouting methods.
• Grind the hemp seeds in the coffee or seed grinder.
• Place the chickpeas and garlic in the food processor, pulsing until smooth.
• Add the lemon juice, tahini, salt and pepper, oil, hemp seed and half the water, pulsing for 2- 3 lots of 20- 30 seconds, scraping down the side of the blender each time.
• Then, with the blender running, add the remaining water slowly through the top; it is this action of thinning down the houmus that gets it really smooth and fine.
• Give a final taste test and store in a sealed container in the fridge. It will keep for 2-3 days, allowing you to make a different flavour another day.

Leftovers:

It is always better to make more, as with the pesto recipe adding sun dried tomato works well to give a different flavour, as does a handful of washed spinach and/or a little chilli.
Hemp seeds do not grind very well in the food processor, the blades are not close enough to catch them. A poppy seed or coffee grinder works best with dry whole seed.