This delicate chickpeas dip is generally served with pita (middle-eastern bread) or any other non-levitated bread, such as piadina from Romagna for instance. It is the basis for a great appetiser or you can have it as a snack or light meal. It is not difficult to make per se. What's complicated is to find the perfect balance between the different flavours: the bitterness tahini, the sharpness of the lemon juice and fruitiness of the extra-virgin olive oil.

What you need for (5-6 people):

250 gr. chickpeas
6 teaspoons of tahini*
2 garlic cloves
the juice of one lemon
parsley
extra-virgin olive oil
a pinch of paprika

How you do it:

Cook the chickpeas, after you have soaked them overnight, in a pan full of water. They should boil for at least 45 minutes. Otherwise, cheat and use canned ones, after having rinsed them thoroughly.

Once you have rinsed them, process the chickpeas in a food processor, amalgamate with finely chopped garlic, the tahini paste, the lemon juice and a couple of tablespoons of oil.

Transfer the paste that you obtain (it should be well creamy, if it turns out to dry add one or two spoons of the water where the chickpeas cooked) to a bowl and pour on top a little oil, sprinkle with paprika and chopped parsley.

* The tahini paste is not yet popular everywhere, in particular in these Italian cities that instead of becoming multicultural and cosmopolitan rather entrench themselves behing stupid prejudices and fears, especially in the culinary field. No fear though, it is very simple to make: just grind white sesame seeds (3 spoons) and add olive oil until to obtain a soft texture.