Rustic Hummus

My family loves hummus. I have a son that could live on the stuff. I use to buy a big container of it weekly at Costco. It dawned on me that there was no reason to buy it when I can make it at home for 1/2 the price.
I have tried many different recipes. I have never found one that I loved. They were bitter or just not right. This one is really good.
 To get that super smooth hummus we tend to see you must sit and remove the little skins off of each garbanzo bean. Well after pulling the skins off of about 5 little beans (I had 4 cans of beans rinsed and ready to use) I said the heck with it. We will have rustic hummus. I'm not sitting there and peeling the skins off of 4 cans of beans. So it is up to you on how smooth you want it to look. It tastes the same.
This recipe makes a large bowl. You can certainly half it.
The thing about this recipe is that you can adapt it to your own taste. More of this, less of that. It is a good basic recipe to play with.

Here is what I did:
4 cans garbanzo beans drained and rinsed
1 cup tahini (this is a sesame seed paste you can find at most grocery stores and health food stores. Make sure you mix it well before you use it. The oil and seed butter separate. )
4 lemons juiced
1 Cup extra virgin olive oil + a drizzle or so as needed while blending.
1 bunch cilantro, cleaned and just tear the top leaves off, a little stem is ok. You will be blending it a food processor anyway.
1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced
2 tsp. garlic powder (you can certainly use fresh garlic. This is just easy and works fine in my opinion.)
1 1/2 tsp. salt or more to taste
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin
optional- a drizzle of honey if it tastes too tart from the lemon juice. The lemon will mellow some if you want to wait before adding any honey.

In food processor add tahini and lemon juice. Blend and scrape down sides if needed. Add evoo, cilantro, cucumber, garlic powder, salt, paprika, cumin and blend scraping sides down to blend it well. Add half the beans and blend well. Add the other half and blend well. Scrape down sides a few times during blending to make sure it is completely blended. If it is too thick add a drizzle of evoo or a Tbl. at a time of water.  Taste for tartness and add honey if you want to. Just a small drizzle. As I said before the lemon will mellow out. Now taste for seasonings. Add more salt or cumin etc...as needed. You don't want to under salt this or it will be very bland. The lemons and salt are important ingredients in getting the right hummus flavor.
Serve with cut up veggies, corn chips, pita chips or eat it off a spoon. It all works. We love to use it in veggie roll up as the condiment. YUM.
Enjoy!