I have had delicious hummus, including black bean hummus and beet hummus, but this still my first love, a recipe I learned from Virginia, on her kitchen, long long ago, when I photographed her for a story. She wrote her book to honor and to preserve her family traditions “while memories are still vivid, and our knowledgeable relatives still with us.”
I have prepared this hummus for my family, all my friends, and students. Yes, I take food to class. I never get tired of eating or making it.

Hummus
adapted from A Taste of Syria by Virginia Jerro Gernio and Phillip M.Kayal

2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (I like to cook them in the pressure cooker for about 10 minutes)
save 3/4 of a can of juice from one can of the chick peas or liquid if you cook the bean.
3-4 heaping tablespoons of tahini (I use whole sesame paste)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for serving
1 tablespoon ground cumin or to taste
1 large pinch smoked paprika
Place the garbanzo beans, liquid from beans, tahini, lemon juice, salt, garlic and cumin in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Add more lemon juice and olive oil to taste. Drizzle more olive oil over the mixture. Sprinkle with paprika.