Hummus

Hummus with red pepper flakes, Spanish paprika and flat-leaf parsley garnishes on top of olive oil.

Hummus with red pepper flakes, Hungarian paprika and oregano garnishes on top of olive oil.

Hummus

  

Bake: None

Prep: 15 min

Serves: 4- 6

 

Hummus, a Mediterranean dip with ancient origins, is a very healthy appetizer or snack enjoyed with pita bread or vegetables. May adjust recipe to taste with more lemon juice, garlic and garnish of choice. Check out the URL for tips on pressure cooking dried garbanzo beans bought at your local farmer’s market.

 

1 can (15.5-ounce) salted garbanzo beans	1 teaspoon cumin
3 medium lemons, juiced ¼ cup tahini	Olive oil Salt, to taste

 

Drain beans, reserving garbanzo bean liquid (aquafaba) to use later if needed. Place the beans in a food processor and blend with lemon juice, tahini and cumin. Blend until smooth, adding reserved aquafaba to desired consistency. Once the hummus is smooth, place it in a serving bowl and, with the back of a spoon, create circular indents. Drizzle olive oil on top. Garnish with desired choice of fresh parsley, oregano, smoked paprika or red pepper flakes, to taste.

Hi! My name is Ro and I am Elaine Kootsikas Alexandres’ daughter-in-law. I am so excited to be a part of this cookbook experience! For the this post, I wanted to make an appetizer that is a staple in our household and easy to make. We make hummus almost every week and we love to snack on it, put it on our dinners, and use it for lunches. I started making hummus because it’s cheaper to make than buy (especially since we eat a lot of it) and because I didn’t trust the store bought hummus with all the processed ingredients. The best thing about hummus is that is very customizable so and feel free to remix and add anything you love!  

Instructions: Open the canned beans and drain both cans of the beans *but make sure to save 1/4 cup of the juice to put with the beans in the food processor*. This will make it creamer. Place the beans in the food processor along with the extra juice. Next, add the garlic, lemon juice, salt, and tahini. Start the processor and mix it until smooth. Once it’s smooth place the hummus in desired bowl or Tupperware. After the hummus is in your bowl take your spoon or spatula and whip it to create circular indents. Drizzle olive oil on top. Sprinkle the paprika, oregano, crushed red pepper, and fresh parsley all over the top. Enjoy! 

OR 

try cooking dry garbanzo beans from your local farmer's market

1. According to Tammy McBride at Tasty Tip https://thetastytip.com/how-to-cook-garbanzo-beans/, garbanzo beans are the same as chickpeas. And sometimes, both names are listed on the can. 
2. If  using dry beans, soak one cup  in water overnight barely covering the beans with water along with 1/2 tablespoon of salt. (Two 15-ounce cans of garbanzo beans equal about 1 cup of dried beans). 
3. Pressure cook the over night soaked beans the next day for 15 minutes on high with 3 cups of water and 1 teaspoon salt; then quick pressure release. Soaking beans is not required, but it reduces cooking time and purported to improve digestibility.  Living in CA, we are always aware to decrease usage of natural resources. Pressure cooking for 15 minutes versus cooking on the stove for 2-3 hours makes sense. 
4. Use the aquafaba (bean water) from the pressure cooker in place of the juice you find in the store-bought canned garbanzo beans. May keep extra aquafaba and use later, for example, in place of chicken stock.
5. Then follow the recipe as above. On a personal note, I found the dry garbanzo beans bought at my local market much tastier than the can garbanzo beans or even the store bought dried garbanzo beans.