| Hummus is one of the many wonderful foods that we | | | | The calories in the hummus will come from the olive oil |
| have come to enjoy now that the world is becoming a | | | | and the tahini. Tahini is a roasted sesame seed paste |
| smaller place and we are experiencing the delights of | | | | and is high in oil and calories. Therefore, a low fat |
| foods from around the globe. Foods such as hummus, | | | | hummus recipe will have to replace these two with |
| which were once thought of as being exotic, are now | | | | something with a slightly lower count. Some people are |
| readily available in the stores and have become a | | | | quite happy to leave them out completely and not |
| regular part of our diets. Hummus is truly wonderful. It is | | | | replace them. Just a little water is sometimes enough |
| a very versatile food which can be used as a dip, in | | | | for some people. This will still make a tasty dip but it will |
| sandwiches or even as the basis of a vegetarian | | | | not be as creamy and does lose a little of its flavour. |
| kebab. It is made from a mixture of mashed chick | | | | If you wish to make the hummus a little more creamy, |
| peas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. The only | | | | it is possible to add some yoghurt to the mixture |
| problem with hummus is that it has quite a high fat | | | | without adding significantly to the fat content and the |
| content. Although most of this is monounsaturated fat, | | | | calorie count. Some recipes will also add further spices |
| and not the nasty saturated one, it can still be quite | | | | such as coriander, cumin and cayenne pepper. You |
| high in calories. There is around 450 calories in 1 cup. | | | | may want to experiment with such spices if you feel |
| So, what we need is a low fat hummus recipe. | | | | that leaving out the olive oil and tahini have meant a |
| Normally you would make this wonderful dip with 4 oz | | | | loss of flavour. |
| chickpeas, 4 fl oz olive oil, 2tbsp tahini, 2 cloves of | | | | Hummus is such a useful food and is extremely |
| garlic, the juice of a lemon and some salt. You would | | | | nutritious, so much so that it is becoming a regular on |
| soak the chickpeas overnight and then cook them for | | | | the lunchtime menu in many schools in the United |
| around 2 ½ hours, drain them and just mash | | | | States in a drive to improve our children's diets. If you |
| everything together in a food processor. The dried | | | | follow a low fat hummus recipe and either remove the |
| chickpeas can always be replaced with tinned ones | | | | fat altogether or at least substitute some of it, you will |
| which do not need to be cooked at all and can just be | | | | find that you have a lovely, healthy and versatile food |
| added straight into the food processor. An alternative | | | | which is also very economic to make. |
| low fat hummus recipe can be easily devised. | | | | |