Adventures with Hummus

[livingdeb]

...or how I made "hummus" the lazy, ignorant way.

"Lazy" means I didn't feel like going to the store. Which means that I made something with no tahini because I don't have any. I'd read that you can substitute sesame oil and/or peanut butter, both of which I had. I also had no lemons, but there was reconstituted lemon juice in the fridge.

"Lazy" also means I used canned chickpeas (= garbanzo beans) instead of dried and garlic powder instead of garlic cloves.

"Ignorant" means, well, I believe I've already mentioned peanut butter.

I also didn't use a food processor because of both laziness and ignorance. The food processor is harder to wash--not to mention finding all the parts for it and putting them together--than the blender, which is sitting on the counter ready to go. I do not know how to work Robin's food processor anyway, nor do I care (see laziness again).

2 cans chickpeas
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2/3 cup peanut butter
2 T sesame oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 cup water
1/2 tsp cumin

I drained the cans of chickpeas and poured one in the blender. Then I put in all the remaining non-chickpea ingredients. Then I put the last can of chickpeas on top.

I turned on the blender. The bottom seemed to be blending in, the top was sitting there, relaxing. (Actually, it was at this point that I added the second half cup of water, thinking it would help. It didn't.) I mixed the chickpeas and the mush and blended some more. Then repeated the mixing and blending a couple more times.

So, what did I end up with*?

I got a substance that was completely edible. Tasty even. Yea! I figured there'd be a few whole garbanzo beans swimming around in there, and decided I would be fine with that, but mostly it's just smooth.

But next time:
* more lemon juice (maybe even directly from lemons)
* tahini (sesame seed paste) instead of peanut butter and sesame oil; I know Wheatsville has it
* more garlic/garlic powder
* more cumin
* some salt (I was afraid to put any in because the peanut butter has some salt)

I'm calling it a victory because a) I'm going to eat it and b) I'm psyched to do better next time (rather than so demoralized that I'll never try it again). Not yet party-grade, though.

(P.S., I would take a picture, but it looks exactly like hummus.)

* Heh, I ended a sentence with two prepositions! ("Up with what did I end?" just didn't sound right.) This is all in keeping with the ignorance theme, though.

Comments

homemade hummus victory

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

I love hummus. That, along with carrots and salad and bready things (cheese scone from Upper Crust!) and wheat roast and/or hard-boiled eggs, was my lunch this week at work. I have used soy sauce in hummus before, and it adds a nice kick. Yeah, I always use tahini. I have tried blending other things into my hummus (sundried tomatoes, olives) but like it plainer. Raw garlic is too pungent for me; if I include garlic in my hummus, I always use roasted garlic (but I won't roast the garlic just by itself; I have to have something else going on in the oven). Oh, and I tend to prefer it sans lemon juice. The lazy version sounds like much less cleanup (I make a full pound of garbonzos, soaking then cooking)! But once I make a batch, I put it into several containers of various sizes and freeze most of it.

In any case, I am glad that you tackled homemade hummus!

Re: homemade hummus victory

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of making a huge batch and then freezing decent-sized portions!

Thanks for all the hints. If future batches aren't perfect, I'll try changing it up with soy sauce and/or less lemon juice.

Wheat roast. Made with wheat gluten? If so, where did you find wheat gluten?

Re: homemade hummus victory

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

Whole Foods, in the bulk section. It was inexpensive. I'll report once I've tried the recipe!

Re: homemade hummus victory

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Cool! Thanks. I've been thinking of trying something made with wheat gluten.