Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

I am a big lover of the Hummus. Its a Mediterranean dip which is creamy and made of garbanzo beans. It makes a great accompaniment as a dip for almost any starters like pita bread, tortilla, falafal and veggie sticks. Also can be used as a spread for wraps and sandwiches. And can also be made into a salad dressing. But our favorite is hummus with couscous!I usually end up buying the hummus from the local grocery stores. But now I have mastered the perfect recipe which tastes just like the authentic hummus. Traditionally Tahini sauce is used in the Hummus, which is nothing but sesame seed sauce. I usually skip that step and the taste is never to my liking. But now, this recipe still does not use the tahini sauce, but instead uses the sesame seeds. It comes out just as delicious.
You can give lots of flavors to the hummus, and roasted red pepper is my most favorite.
Keeps well when refrigerated for a week.

Ingredients Required:
Garbanzo Beans - 1 cup, soaked for 8 hours and cooked till well done. Reserve the cooked water.
Garlic - 2 cloves
Red Pepper -2
Cilantro - 2 tbsp, coarsely chopped
Olive Oil - 3 tbsp
Salt and Pepper - to taste
Paprika / Red Chilli Powder - to taste
Cumin - 1 tsp
Lemon Juice - 2 tblsp
Sesame Seeds - 3 tbsp

How to make?
Roasting Pepper:
First you would want to roast the red pepper. I roasted them on a stove top.
Use tongs and place the red pepper on the stove top on a medium flame. Slowly rotate the pepper to roast all the sides. The sides should turn black. This would take 10 minutes.
Take a paper bag (Sandwich bag) or newspaper. Place the pepper in the bag and close them. Set aside for 10 minutes. This would enable easy peeling of the skin.
Remove from the paper bag, and gently peel the skin. It should just come off. You can dip your hands in water now and then for easy peeling, but do not run water on the pepper as this would remove the roasted flavor from the pepper.
Chop the pepper in half and remove the seeds. Chop and set aside.

Hummus:
In a skillet, on medium heat, toast the sesame seeds till light pinkish and till you hear a popping sound.
Add the sesame seeds in a blender or food processor and grind to a powder.
Add all the other ingredients including the roasted pepper and grind till creamy.
Add the water from the cooked beans to adjust the consistency.
Do a quick taste check to see if the salt and spice level are to your liking.
Serve in a bowl.