Horray for Hummus

Funny story about hummus. First year in grad school I took a soils class on the recommendation of a colleague. She said that the teacher was amazing and I would love it. I did love it, but that’s not the point of the story. Point of the story is soil is made up of layers. Every layer has a name and an associated initial and they ALWAYS go in the order of depth. It goes something like this:

Sooooo. We are in class (either the first or second night) and the teacher asks does anyone know what the top layer of soil is called? Being the studious little girl I am and having read the material before class, I eagerly raise my hand and shout, “It’s hummus!” To which my teacher raises his eyebrow at me and says, “Nooooo. It’s humus (hugh-mous). Boy was I embarrassed.

Well. The other day my coworker made homemade hummus and brought it into the office and I was impressed. When I found out how easy it was (according to him) to make it, I had to try it for myself that night.

RECIPE

2 cans chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

Juice of one lemon (throw in some zest if you got it) approx ¼ cup

1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste, intenational food isle)

¼ cup olive oil

1 TBS cumin

½ tsp of salt

1/8 tsp of pepper

7 (!) cloves of garlic minced (3 if you’re a wuss)

Water for thinning

Instructions:

Combine the chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini. . .EVERYTHING into a huge honking bowl (except the water!) and combine with your stick blender. My husband and I added the 3 cloves of garlic the recipe called for but we didn’t think that was enough, so we added more 2 at a time until we liked the taste. When everything is combined, it will be really thick. I mean REALLY thick, as in oh shit! Did we do something wrong? It smells like hummus, it tastes like hummus, but it don’t look like hummus. That’s when you slooooowly add a little water at a time to thin it out; some recipes call for the juice from the canned chickpeas, but frankly, that just grosses me out, so we used water. Next time, I am thinking of adding a liquid with more flavor (like chicken or vegetable stock premade from the grocery). All in all, I think we added a little over 1/3 cup water, but I have a feeling that will probably change from recipe to recipe.

Pretzels and hummus? Deeeelicious. . . . I had some carrot chips in the fridge from something else and I picked up this naan (Indian flat bread) from the publix deli.


I don’t know why I was ever intimidated by making hummus. The only strenuous part is using the stick blender to get a smoother consistency (my coworker used a food processor and his hummus was kinda grainy). It will never be as smooth as store bought hummus because the research I did on the internets suggested that hummus manufacturers actually use chickpea flour instead, but think about all the preservatives and additives you are avoiding by making your own!

And I don’t know about you but I keep everything for this recipe in my house on a regular basis but the tahini paste.

I also discovered, by chance a really tasty variation that involves ingredients used to make chili (chili beans, green bell pepper, tomato, corn, chili seasoning, secret ingredient (worchestershire sauce), and tahini), no oil needed, the veggies provide enough moisture.

Combine all that and add a healty scoop of cheese and sour cream and you're set!

What else can be falsely intimidating to make? ;)