Hummus

I love hummus and I finally made it (successfully) starting with dried chickpeas or garbanzo beans instead of canned chickpeas. I tried in this post, but I failed because I failed to cook the chickpeas before blending them with the other ingredients.

The hummus turned out great and I must say that starting with dried chickpeas really does make a difference. The flavor truly is that much better when you start with dried chickpeas. Using dried chickpeas does require advance planning and at least 24 hours and because of this I will keep a can of chickpeas on hand at all times for those instances when I did not plan in advance or get a huge hummus craving that cannot wait.

As with any dried bean, I sifted through them to remove any stones or bad beans. Then, I placed them in a large saucepan with cold water and ½ tsp. salt. The chickpeas soak overnight and are ready the next day.

Be sure you drain the water off the chickpeas and then add new water to rinse off any starchy fiber that would cause gas. Simmer the chickpeas for an hour or an hour and a half.

Drain the liquid saving 1 Tbsp liquid.

(You can tell that I threw some black beans in. I had some left over from Mexican food and decided to use them in this. It was a great variation!)

The recipe calls for Tahini. It is sesamee paste. You can find it near the peanut butter or in the international aisle. It stores for some time in a room-temperature location and does separate.

Place chickpeas, 1 Tbsp liquid, 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 Tbsp tahini, 1 large garlic clove, ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper in a food processor. Stream in olive oil into the food processor as the mixture blends. (it will be approximately ¼ c. olive oil.)

Taste and add any additional seasoning as needed.

Place in a serving bowl and cover with paprika. Serve with crackers, pita, raw vegetables, as a sandwich spread, or in a cold pasta or quinoa salad.

I made two; one with black beans and one plain as I used it in a dip.