You can wake me up in the middle of the night for Houmous with some fresh bread. Ok, I admit I would be somewhat surprised but houmous is so satisfying that I wouldn't let it go.
I do all always greatly respect authentic recipes. Though I have to admit I always tend to look for different variations, especially with local ingredients.
When we were in Jordan houmous was served daily, with any meal. But we didn't find any variety of Houmous. Just the plain old chickpea tahina version, probably made by great grandma's recipe. And, without any exception, they were all delicious.
I learned that the trick for good houmous is to use bakingsoda when boiling the chickpeas, and always use the dried legumes. Using canned chickpeas most certainly may cause great grandma to turn in her grave.
I tried new variations nonetheless. In this beetroot houmous I replaced the lemon with kimchi brine. And the result was absolutly stunning! The beetroot adds some earthiness to the flavor palette and obviously this mesmerizing colour. Kimchi brine on the otherside creats deeper flavors compared to the original lemon. And above all, the brine makes your houmous into a super healthy flavor bomb as the microbes will happily find their way into your belly.