Quickie post, lets get down and dirty! Get out the lube and send the kids to play video games! This is a love story about hummus and me. Its a wonderfully easy snack and its fun and versatile…you can dip it, smear it, eat it straight of the bowl. Its also freaking expensive, so I make my own and its the best I’ve ever had. The main problem with sharing my recipe is I never ever measure the ingredients so I have no idea how much of each item to tell you to use. I had a tiny little food processor I would use to make this and so I had to do the hummus in about five little batches and I’d just keep adding things until it tasted right. My parents were wise and thoughtful and gave us a huge food processor for Christmas, so I’ll be able to get a better idea of the proper quantities and I’ll update in a future post for those of you that are married to your measuring cups.
The key to making the very best hummus is the chickpeas, or garbanzo beans. I never used canned because…they taste canned! I always start with dried beans. You will probably only be able to find them in the bulk food section. I soak them in water overnight and then simmer them until they’re soft. You can skip the soaking and just put them in a crock pot all day on low if you prefer! I usually cook a huge batch of the beans and then turn half into hummus and freeze half for later. They thaw just fine.
I’ll try and estimate quantities, assuming you use about six cups of cooked beans. Obviously feel free to do just a half or quarter of the recipe. We have four teens, so its never wasted at our house.
HUMMUS a la Tam Tam!
6 cups soaked and cooked garbanzo beans
½ cup olive oil
Juice of 3-4 lemons
1 tablespoon of liquid smoke
2 tablespoons sea salt
½ cup tahini
4 cloves garlic, crushed (optional…depending on your social calendar)
Pop all that in food processor and mix until its creamy good! Taste it and see what you might like more or less of. I think more olive oil gives it a great texture, but if you’re trying to watch your fat, you’re stupid. Oops, I meant, just cut out some of the oil. I usually top it with a little paprika and some pine nuts as well.
I use this as a sandwich spread, eat it on pita with fresh tomato and cucumber slices, throw it on top of a bed of spinach with grape tomatoes in lieu of salad dressing…so versatile! You can thank me later but don’t kiss me if you’ve included the garlic.
