Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Homemade Hummus: Quicker than I Thought!

I recently cleaned out my fridge... well, I didn't actually wash down the shelves like I should have, but I went through and tossed some condiments that were past their expiration date.  Which resulted in not having tahini (sesame paste) since it was two years past its expiration date!  Eeek!  I seriously never pay attention to the stuff that gets shoved to the back corners of the fridge, and that's a great example.  I can't remember the last time I used the tahini, which is good since it's been expired for so long!

So it ended up that I had promised to make hummus for a friend's birthday party, and now I had no tahini, which is a pretty major ingredient in hummus.  I did a little searching for a recipe that didn't use tahini, which wasn't too hard, apparently it's a pretty common thing to be without tahini.

Inspiration

Honest Cooking hummus without tahini and All Recipes super easy hummus

I liked the comments from the first recipe where people talked about how to replace that sesame flavor without tahini, but I was looking for a way to reduce the amount of oil used, so that's why I used the second recipe.  I replaced the tahini flavor by adding sesame seeds and sesame oil.

I really recommend using garlic powder in this recipe since it is already finely ground so you won't have any huge garlic-y surprises.

Ingredients

  • 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans, liquid drained but reserved (If you can get them, I highly recommend Roundy's garbanzo beans, they're soft and super-tasty.)
  • 1/2 tsp sesame seeds
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 2T lemon juice (I used bottled, but of course fresh-squeezed would be best)
  • 1/4 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 T olive oil
  • 2 T reserved bean liquid (more or less)
  • 1/4 tsp sesame oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt (start with only a little bit, you can always add more)
  • Fresh-ground black pepper

Directions


Put all of the ingredients into a medium-size food processor and process until desired smoothness.
The ingredients all lined up.  I was intending to put roasted red peppers in the hummus, but I changed my mind.
All of the ingredients in the food processor.
Partially blended.
You might want to scrape down the sides of the processor cup with a rubber spatula to ensure you get it all smooth. 
Smooth puree.
You'll definitely want to taste the hummus as you go and adjust the flavors to be what you want.

Verdict

Quick to make with earthy flavor.  

I took this to the birthday party but I didn't label it, so only brave people tried it.  I hate when I forget to label food for a party since I know I probably wouldn't be brave enough to try creepy-looking tan sludge, but I would definitely eat homemade hummus.

Husband Jeff declared this to be better than store-bought hummus, which I really appreciated.  He asked that we make it homemade from now on, which is a huge compliment.  Sonny D tried it and liked it, but Jeff and I ate it so quickly that he didn't get much. 

I would love to experiment with different flavors and add the roasted red peppers next time. I would also like to try cooking the garbanzo beans from scratch in my pressure cooker since the flavor is supposedly superior to canned beans. 

This really was quick and easy to make and I will definitely continue to make it from scratch.  I don't know if I will completely stop buying it from the store though since I love so many of the different flavors available (huge recommendation for Trader Joe's horseradish hummus -- Sonny D and I are huge fans!).  

Last night I roasted an eggplant from our garden and am planning to make a baba ghanoush-hummus with it. 

Wanna Chat?

I turned off the 'leave a comment' feature, so if you want to share what you're thinking about this or anything else, drop me an email at jhk1013 (at) gmail.com. It's so much more cozy than a comment, plus we can have a real conversation!