Yom Ha'atzmaut Inspired Hummus

For those of you who don't know, Yom Ha'atzmaut is Israel's Independence Day, which happened to be yesterday. Because I work for an organization that raises money for Israel, I was involved in the celebration this year and volunteered with my colleagues at the Rady Centre to help make it a great experience for the kids. There's tons of crafts and activities and it's just a really fun night for families, complete with fireworks. 

Definitely one of the highlights of the night was getting to try falafel for the first time and basically eating my weight in hummus. The hummus they had there was so fresh-tasting and it really inspired me to try my hand at making my own! I am also planning on making falafel - I have some dried chickpeas soaking as we speak!

I got this great little appetizer cookbook as a gift from my dad a while back so I thought I'd take a look and see if there was a recipe in there and sure enough, there was! 

Such a cute, little book :) 

What you will need:

14oz can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained (I used a 19oz can and just adjusted the measurements of the other ingredients a little bit)

1 garlic clove, crushed (garlic press works best for this)

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tbsp tahini

3 tbsp olive oil

juice of 1/2 to 3/4 lemon

salt and pepper

Pitas to make chips for dipping

Garnish:

paprika

Fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley, chopped

I used my spice grinder to grind the coriander seed. I love this thing.

Then, just put the works into a food processor and go to town. Feel free to taste along the way, adjust the seasonings and add more olive oil if you'd like it a little smoother/runnier.

I chopped some fresh parsley, squeezed a little lemon, sprinkled some paprika and drizzled some olive oil over the top. I also added some of the reserved chickpeas to just mix in and have the few little chunks in the dip. I copied this presentation from the hummus plate I had last night!

I cut up a whole wheat pita into little pieces, put them on a cookie sheet, sprayed them with a little cooking spray and baked them in a 375 degree oven for about 5-7 minutes to serve as pita chips with this dip.