<< Back Hummus
Hummus was probably the first "exotic" thing I ever ate as a vegan, and has remained one of my favorite snacks for nearly a decade. Over the years, I've had a wide variety of hummus recipes--starting with the one in How It All Vegan (the first cookbook I ever owned, I think), which has onions and soy sauce and all manner of craziness. In these, my golden years, I've settled on a more traditional hummus, a simpler hummus, a more humble hummus.
Hummus
- 4 cups or 2 cans of chick peas
- 1.5 tsp cumin
- 1/8 - 1/4 cup of lemon juice (to taste)
- 1/8 cup of olive oil
- 1/2 cup of tahini
- salt to taste
- 1/2 medium-sized white onion, sauteed (optional; sauteed with the garlic, if you're going this route)
- 2 - 4 cloves of garlic (optional)
Yep, that's it. Blend all of the above ingredients in a food processor until they're as smooth as Barry White's deep soulful voice.
Should this produce a less-than-excellent hummus, you might consider the following:
- if you're using canned chick peas, cook them for 20 minutes
- attempt to remove all of the thin shells by gently massaging the chick peas in water and spooning out the shells when they float to the top
- experiment with different brands of chick pea and tahini--you'll be amazed at how different they can be
- use dry chick peas and cook them yourself (ideally, with a pressure cooker)
- add the tahini, olive oil, and/or lemon piecemeal-- you can always add more
You can make this seem really fancy by serving it with a few things you probably have on hand anyway--a drizzle of olive oil (I like to make a little pool), a sprinkle of paprika, and/or some minced garlic (ideally in the olive oil pool).
You can also make this like 100X healthier by baking some pita to eat with it instead of chips.