Falafel & Homemade Hummus Pittas

I'm not really a breakfast person, preferring a large pot of herbal tea to wake up slowly and absorb the morning...But sometimes this means by lunchtime I'm ravenous. Luckily today the hunger was easily stemmed by some delicious Tamruc falafel (stocked in the Evergreen on Wexford St. Dublin), some salady bits and homemade hummus. Homemade hummus is so good for so many reasons -1 its much cheaper -2 you can add more of what you like, less of what you don't -3 you can get the texture you prefer - 4 it's simples to make! Tamruc falafel is different to the regular falafel because there are dates, raisins and basil.....so it has that lovely sweetness you associate with North African/Middle Eastern food...indeed the theory is that falafel originated in Egypt and of course nowadays is eaten right across the Middle East. Hummus also spelled hamos, hommos, hommus, homos, houmous, hummos, hummous, or humus is so easy to make ... I always keep a jar of tahinni (crushed sesame paste) in the cupbord usually then all I need are chickpeas.

Anyway so to make the hummus -

1 tin of chickpeas
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 dstp tahinni
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
glug of Olive oil
pepper
sml clove of garlic (optional -as it can make it a little hard to digest )

Half drain the chickpeas...reserve the rest of the water -in case the hummus is too dry. Get your hand blender, throw everything into a container and whizz until you reach your desired consistency. Now grill some falafel, get some wholemeal pittas, put a good dollop of hummus inside the pittas, fill with whatever salady bits you fancy...beetroot, tomato, avocado, leaves etc......stick in the warm falafel et voila -a delicious any day of the week sandwich!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIybz6axr1Q&feature=related -check out this bizarre hummus rap I found on the tubes of you..... Let the guys take you to hummusville.....I dare you!