Recipe: Hummus bi Tahina

Hi Angie!
Whenever its barbecue weather my sister makes this. It's just a plain old salad but the taste!

1 head of white cabbage finely shredded
about 12-15 plum tomatoes cut into quarters lengthwise (or any ripe flavourful tomato)
lemons
olive oil
salt
black pepper
flat leaf/chinese parsley

Mix the cabbage and onions in a large salad bowl. Squeeze over the juice of 1 lemon, add around 4 tbs olive oil, salt and pepper to tase. Let it sit for about 1/2 an hour. Mix well agan, taste it to see what you think and add either more lemon or more oil. Let it sit again. Add the parsley just before you serve if you want to. The taste of this is so fresh, but you must have good fresh bread to mop up the juices that collect at the bottom of the bowl. There's always a lot! You can add in garlic too if you fancy that.

Hummus bi Tahina

125g/4 oz chick peas/garbanzo beans soaked overnight (or use canned)
juice of 2 lemons
2 tbs tahina (sesame seed paste)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
salt

Garnish
2-3 tbs olive oil
1 tsp paprika
parsley, chopped

Drain the chickpeas and simmer in fresh water for about an hour until tender. DO NOT ADD SALT!
Reserve the cooking water.
Process the chickpeas in a blender with the lemon juice, tahina, garlic and salt and enough of the cooking liquid to obtain a soft, creamy consistency. You can leave it more grainy if you like really - the taste doesn't change too much.
Serve on a flat plate with a dribble of olive oil, and a little chopped parsley.

Dip in with toasted pita bread or even tortillas. You don't have to use tahini if you cannot get it. Greek hummus tends not to have it, turkish does.