Hummus

A couple of weeks ago the question was posed on the Yelp forum as to where to buy the best hummus to take home. Prior to that I had had hummus as part of an appetizer tray at Royal Gyros. It was ok. The general consensus seemed to be Trader Joe's or Fresh and Easy (Tesco). Better yet was to see if it could be purchased to go at a place where you liked it and best yet was to make it fresh at home. So I stopped at Fresh and easy and picked some up. I thought it to be rather thin and the strongest taste by far was lemon. Not at all impressed.

So I set out to make some. A couple of folks had posted recipes. I bought some dried chick peas and everything else I used what I already had. Those who follow my cooking already know I feel fine substituting a similar tasting ingredient. Soaked a cup of beans all night and day and then simmered them for about 4 hours in salted water. Tossed them in the blender with some sesame oil (instead of Tahini because I had it,now I no longer do so I 'have' to make a Lee Lee run *rolleyes*), crushed garlic, lime juice (again, because that is what I had). I blended that up and started adding EVOO until I got a paste. The point I stopped at is about halfway between mayonnaise and Skippy creamy. Learned a few things. Blenders are a poor choice for this task. It is easy to tell if you use olive oil instead of canola or some other lesser expensive oil because the hummus takes on a yellow tinge. I should have started with only a half cup of beans for a couple of reasons: I wouldn't have so large of a batch to use up and I would have been able to use my mini food processor which would have been a better tool.

The biggest thing I learned is what I was missing before. And maybe I just got lucky on my first try and I certainly will not attest to it tasting authentic but it tastes great! I can taste the beans and the olive oil and the garlic and the sesame and citrus are in the background. I have been using it instead of mayonnaise on ham sandwiches and making wraps using an 8" flour tortilla, spread some hummus, top with some fresh tapenade, nuke for about 30 seconds to slightly warm, sprinkle shredded cheese on top and roll. YUMM!! I prefer the tortilla to naan just because I like what is inside to be the star just like I prefer sliced bread to sub rolls for a sandwich. If I had diced onions or cucumber I might also add those.

I am definitely spoiled now. :-)