Sometimes I had a little cheap grocery store curry powder.
I actually don’t find the curry powder at the grocery store very cheap. Usually. Actually, they sell it in bulk bins pretty cheap at a chain around here called Sprout’s. It’s not quite my favorite, but its inexpensive and is very lively in flavor and aroma in a way I suspect indicates relatively fresh grind. How much curry powder do you use in a batch?
I add it a shake at a time until I can just begin to taste it.
Yeah, some good points above:[ol][]Use some tehina; if you can’t find any substitute for it. I’ve never tried peanut butter but that should work; or add some olive oil into the mix itself.[]Whole or pieces of chickpeas are not a problem, IMHO. Some prefer hummus to be smoother, I like it chunky style too :)[]Add a bit of olive oil on top when serving. You may also want to keep some of the chickpeas you cooked and add them on top, whole and hot[]There ain’t no such thing as “too much garlic”![/ol]
It freezes fine. I just had some that I froze 7 months ago; couldn’t tell the difference.
It freezes fine for me, too. I’d laid out twelve bucks for tahina, and wasn’t going to have it go bad. 
I’ve never seen Chinese sesame paste. The Asian grocery here has sesame oil for much less than standard groceries, and it tastes very well.
“Curry powder” is about as meaningless as “spices”.
For those in the US having trouble finding cheap tahini, I ordered some for cheap from Amazon.
Well, I’d say it’s more like it’s about as meaningful as “barbecue sauce”. Most of your curry powders will have different levels pf tumeric, cumin, garam masala, ect., so that the generalization is not simply nonsense. But this fairly reliably similar family of spice mixes that go by the name of ‘curry powder’ is no more definitive of ‘curry’ as a cuisine than barbecue sauce is definitive of ‘barbecue’.
Tried and True recipe?
2 large cans garbanzo beans in fluid.
2 fresh lemons
Bottle of sesame oil
1 Cup of Tahini
toasted sesame seeds ( better if you toast them JUST before making hummus )
Paprika
Drain all liquid into bowl, set aside.
Put beans and tahini into food processor- which must must MUST have the bottom riding plastic blade in place. Do not use the metal or top blade.
Turn on for no more than 15 seconds. Beans will pulverize. Add a few dashes of sesame oil. A dash or two of paprika. Hand squeeze a lemon on top. Then add back 1 can’s worth of fluid. Turn on again for maybe 15-30 seconds.
The goal is to retain a coarse blend while evenly mixing flavors. If you use a metal blade or let it go for too long, it becomes hummus buttah. To me, hummus must have a coarse ( hand-ground looking ) consistency.
Spatula into bowl. Drizzle lightly across top with sesame oil. Dash paprika liberally across top for flavor and look. Squeeze second lemon as last gesture.
Chill overnight.
VERY important additional bit: If you are a garlic lover, remember the big thing with garlic. Like Kal-El, son of Jor-El and saviour of Metropolis and the planet Earth, garlic gains strength with time. If you want garlic, use either fresh clove or at worst jarred minced garlic. Place into processor before doing initial mix.
When sitting overnight and “setting”, hummus will thicken and all flavors will grow.
Get ahold of pita bread. Try as best as you can to find genuine pita bread. I live in Astoria New York, and the pita breads I buy are baked every single morning at the Mediterannean Baking Company and distributed locally. The frozen gack in the supermarket doesn’t cut it.
Toast the pita lightly either in an oven or in a cast iron skillet with very low heat. I tend to cut the bread into wedges, but cut as you wish or serve whole so guests can rip off a piece as pleases them.
A small side bowl of Calamata Olives is a great garnish.
I’m in China, so that’s all we get. Here there’s no Middle Eastern import foods section. Get a lot of Australian stuff, though!
Yeah, that’s why I asked “which” curry powder. I actually have a lot of spice mixes from India I’ve not gotten around to using yet. I may experiment and see what happens.