I promised you all my favorite hummus recipe. But first, I’d like to know how a bunch of smashed chick peas mixed with a little this and that, and a name that sounds like something related to compost, has become such an exotic dish among pseudo yuppies like myself.
Indeed.
Ok – I have a confession. I don’t really have a “favorite” hummus recipe. I make it different every time. But see, that’s the beauty of it. Here’s how I made it the other day – and everyone woofed it:
Put in a blender or otherwise chop, smash, and blend:
- 2 cans of chickpeas or garbanzo beans, same thing, drained – save the juice. Usually I cook my own, but this day I was in a hurry. Despite my raving about garlic, garbanzos are really what make hummus hummus – but you could also use another kind of bean if you don’t have them on hand.
- Garlic scapes – about a dozen or more – personally, I just can’t get enough of these curly things
- 3 T olive oil – (low-fat variations could use less)
- 1/3 c lemon juice or a couple of squeezed lemons
- 1/3 c sesame seed (I would have used more but I ran out) – if you don’t have a blender, Tahini, which is essentially sesame seed already blended with olive oil – is a good choice. If you use Tahini, be cautious with the oil.
- 1 c or so of parsley, smashed down – I grow a lot of this, and at this point, this recipe is sounding a lot like the pesto one, only with added beans instead of walnuts
- Maybe a little salt – don’t really need it with the lemon juice
Chop it, blend it, or whatever you need to do to make this a relatively smooth paste. Add back in about 1/4 cup of the drained bean juice if it looks too thick.
This hummus version is very green. People won’t know it’s hummus, which they think of as being kind of tan and something they’d maybe rather not describe. Yes – it’s very garlicky and very lemony. It’s also heavy on parsley. I love all these things.
Hummus is wonderful. Think of the many things you can do with this stuff! Here are some ideas:
- spread it on bread (better than butter!), pita bread, fresh crackers, tortilla chips
- dunk veggies in it, such as carrots, celery, broccoli – or whatever you have
- mellow it out with another can of beans
- spice it up with a little cayenne – or maybe some oregano or cumin, a little pepper
- use black beans instead of chickpeas
- leave out the sesame seeds if you don’t have any – don’t worry, it still works!
- add a couple scoops of peanut butter (some people like anything if it has peanut butter in it, my husband, included)
- make it more tangy with a couple of scoops of yogurt
- use lime juice instead of lemon
- add different vegetables to it – roasted peppers, spinach, sun dried tomatoes? mmmm….
- garnish it with parsley & paprika
- sculpt with it (the idea here is get creative!)
This humble dish is one of the oldest known to man – and you can see why – it can be whatever you like or whatever you have or a mixture of all you have and like. It’s wonderful. It’s eaten daily all over the Arab world, and many other cultures have a version they call their own. In fact, it’s known to have been around 5000 years before Christ! Now that’s amazing. My guess is that it helped the Egyptians build the pyramids. Just think what YOU can do with it!
Plus, it’s full of protein, iron, vitamin C, fiber, and more, depending on how it’s made.
I figure that anything that looks like a glob but gets your kids to eat beans, whole-grain crackers, and vegetables must be a good thing.
Enjoy!