Hummus

A good five years ago I tried to make hummus.  I thought, how hard can it be?  Throw some chickpeas and tahini in the food processor, and done, right?  Wrong.  It was inedible- thick and pasty and bland, and sadly we ended up throwing the whole batch in the compost.  I finally decided a week ago to give it another shot.  I used this recipe from Allrecipes with only minor adjustments-

1.       The recipe called for canned chickpeas, and I used dried.  If you decide to go this route, soak a little over a cup of dried chickpeas in a bowl of water in the fridge for at least 4 hours, or overnight (or when you leave for work).  Dump out the soaking water, rinse the beans, then throw them in a pot with plenty of water for 60 – 90 minutes.  The chickpeas should be nice and tender.  Allow them to cool for a bit before making the hummus.  You will need 3 cups of cooked chickpeas for the hummus.

2.       This recipe also has no olive oil in it.  Probably because I used dried beans, the hummus was really dry, so I ended up adding a good ½ cup of water and 1/3 cup olive oil to the recipe to get it to the consistency I liked.

3.       I added an extra clove of garlic, but regretted it.  2 cloves are plenty unless you’re a garlic nut.  I should have tasted it before adding the third!

Soaked Chickpeas, ready for blending.

It couldn't be easier, just throw everything in at once.

Way too dry without added water and oil.

For some reason, this was the last picture I took, I don't have one of the finished hummus!

You will need:

3 cups cooked organic chickpeas ($1.99 per lb, $1.99 x .44lb = $.87 for dried, $1.50 per can, $1.50 x 2 = $3.00 for canned)

½ cup organic tahini ($3.99 per lb, $3.99 x .26lb = $1.04)

 ¼ cup lemon juice (2 lemons) ($.50 each, $.50 x 2 = $1.00)

1 tsp grated lemon zest (inc. in lemon juice cost)

2 cloves organic garlic ($.50 per bulb, $.50/ 5 = $.10)

¼ cup packed organic flat leaf parsley ($1.99 per bunch, $1.99/4 = $.49)

¼ chopped organic green onions ($.99 per bunch, $.99/3 = $.33)

pepper to taste (about 1 tsp) ($3.79 per 4 oz, $3.79/20 (rough estimate) = $.19)

salt to taste (about 1 tsp) ($.79 per 26 oz, $.79/ 122.75 tsp = $.01)

Organic olive oil (optional) ($4.99 per 17 oz, $4.99/6.37 (number of 1/3 cups) = $.78)

It was great.  It took a little tasting, seeing what was lacking, adding more water and oil incrementally, but in the end, we really liked it.  I won’t say that I was blown away, it was good hummus, as good as store bought, but nothing compared to the gold standard of Sticks Kebob Shop hummus.  Next time we might try it with roasted garlic and no parsley just to mix it up.

Try It:

$4.81 for about 3 ½ cups of hummus, or $.17/oz.

Buy It:

$4.49 for 8oz Tribe Organic Hummus, or $.56/oz.

Verdict:

Try it.  It was much cheaper, even if you use canned beans, and it was tasty.  We will still get Sticks hummus for a treat now and then, but this is our new everyday hummus!