The other day I wrote a post about the 10 foods I always have in my kitchen. One of those foods are dips. Do you, by any chance, remember how I mentioned that Georgie likes hummus? Well, surprise surprise now he doesn’t! Isn’t that peculiar? I don’t get these swift changes my kid goes through! Do any of you experience this with your kids?
I was quite disappointed when he refused the hummus I had bought him that day. I know its probably a phase he will grow out of but I find the stuff to be amazingly healthy and convenient to include in his diet so I wasn’t just going to let this slide.
I believe that a foolproof way to get a kid interested in anything is to make them feel included, tell them you need their help, treat them like a grown-up. With Georgie this is mainly true with cooking and baking. I reckoned that if he was involved in the process of making homemade hummus perhaps I could salvage his love for the “stinky stuff”.
On the day I decided to make hummus with Georgie I didn’t have any tahini so bear in mind that this is a tahini-free version. If you do have tahini or your planning is better than mine, go classic (I must try the roasted garlic step) or go crazy with one of these variations.
Making hummus takes no time at all and all you need is a blender. But before that you’ll also need:
- Two cans of chickpeas
- A clove of garlic
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Water
- A lemon
- Tahini (if you have it)
In our home we make dips often because they’re so easy and stress-free. Ironically that’s the part Georgie hates. ‘Is that it?’ he always says. There’s not much for him to do apart from toss everything in the blender. He needs more action, more involvement and luckily with hummus there’s a single step that you’ll probably hate but your kids will love.
In order to make smooth and silky hummus you absolutely, really, definitely must discard the chickpea skins. It’s time-consuming but it will make all the difference. This is the part Georgie loved. I placed three bowls in front of him and showed him how to take a chickpea and slightly pinch it ‘to take off its jacket.’
We stuck to one can of chickpeas as I didn’t want to wear Georgie out and risk losing his interest. But that turned out to be a mistake because I went ahead and added a whole garlic clove anyway and the taste was a little overbearing for my little dude. I have an unfaltering love affair with garlic so all was cool with me but Georgie was not impressed. Worried I was about to lose the game, later on that day I made another batch just for him.
Warm pitta bread is our absolute favourite dipping partner but go ahead and use vegetables such as carrots, celery or cucumber sticks as a healthier option. You could also team it with souvlakia or cover the inside of a pitta bread and fill it with grated veggies. 
With the second batch his ‘mmms’ and ‘ahs’ were a step in the right direction so I have decided to let it be and for now just focus on how grateful I am that he’s finally over his ‘no tomatoes’ stage!
Keep in mind that you can use canned or cooked chickpeas.
