Hummus

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried chick peas (or two cans)
• 1/4 cup liquid from chick peas (or vegetable stock)
• 8 cloves of Roasted Garlic
• Medium red bell pepper
• 2 tsp paprika
• 5 tbsp lemon juice (fresh if possible)
• 2 tbsp olive oil (middle eastern if possible; the cultivars taste different!)
• 5 tbsp tahini
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Directions

Preparing the Beans

Just soak a cup of dried beans at least overnight in a couple of cups of water. Drain them and throw them into a pot with enough water to just more than cover them (an extra inch or so seems to be good). Bring everything to a boil uncovered, and then cut the heat back to simmer partially covered for about an hour or an hour and a half (when the skins split easily they have a good texture).

When you drain them save the liquid and use that when blending the hummus.

Bell Pepper

Scorch the skin off of the bell pepper over flame or under a broiler, and then roast the pepper:

To roast the pepper, put the cut pieces in a baking dish with a little oil and pop it into a 400°F (205°C) oven, until the pieces are tender and slightly browned, about 25 to 30 minutes.

And Now for the Actual Hummus

1. Prepare the beans (or be lame and use canned beans)
2. Throw everything together in a blender or food processor and blend until it is smooth
3. Put whatever frilly garnish to make it look better on it if you must
4. Take to a gathering of some sort
5. Goodbye hummus

Notes

One time I decided to make hummus for folks and alas! I forgot to soak beans the night before. My strange friend came to the rescue with the equivalent amount of home prepared white beans and it was a good substitute (slightly different flavor, but the spices here really dominate). I used the water from boiling the dried tomatoes as there was no fresh chickpea water on hand and it was delightful.

I've used cheap blenders, decent food processors, and a super-expensive blender to make this. It comes out about the same each time. Just blend everything together at a moderate speed until it is whatever you consider reasonable smooth.

(1) _Of course_ we made sure it was actually too slow before making the ugly optimization.

Last Modified: May 9, 2019