and how do YOU spell Houmous/Humus/Hummus??

I am still struggling to spell this word… is it hummus, hummous, houmous, hommus or humus???

“what do you mean you eat no meat??? …That’s ok, I make lamb”

Apparently the English word *hummus* comes from the Turkish word *humus* which in turn comes from the Arabic word *hummus* which in turn is derived from the word *himmas* which is the word for Chickpeas!

(Now why do I feel like I have had a discussion with Mr Portokalos from my Big Fat Greek Wedding?? With his infamous line “give me a word, any word, and I show you that the root of the word is Greek“)) Essentially, the spelling *humus* is avoided in English as it basically means *organic matter in soil*… nice!?!

But all in all, this is one of my favourite dip’s! particularly served with warm flatbread/pitabread’s… or slathered onto a slice of toast and topped with freshly sliced tomatoes and lots of salt and pepper! In fact, I think that I could eat it with a spoon… *hangs head in shame*

So how do you make your own HUMMUS?… SIMPLE!

I found the recipe in the Weightwatchers * Cook Smart Entertaining* book (page 99):

5pt for the entire recipe

400g can chickpeas

1 teaspoon bicarb of soda (baking soda)

1 large garlic clove, chopped roughly

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Drain the can of chickpeas and soak in water for an hour with a teaspoon of bicarb of soda
2. Drain and rinse chickpeas
3. Add to food processor and whizz 🙂
4. Add garlic, oil and lemon juice and blend for 20minutes until you have a beautiful smooth texture
5. You may want to add a bit of seasoning (salt/pepper) and another drizzle of olive oil before serving