I LOVE hummus. I like it with warm pita bread. I like it with falafel. I like it with chicken schwarmas. I like it with pita chips or regular chips. I like it with veggie sticks. I like it smeared on a toasted bread sandwich with lettuce and tomato. I really like it when a restaurant serves it with that little dollop of jalapeno stuff on top. I feel like I'm writing a reverse of Green Eggs and Ham. Anyway. April commented on the Shish Taouk recipe that she was sad I didn't have a hummus recipe on here yet. So since I was lacking some inspiration on what to post here at the end of this week, and since hummus was on the short list anyway....April gets a hummus recipe! My recipe DOES call for tahini--I'll devote another post here in a couple days to substitutes for tahini that I have tried. You can always just omit it if you HAVE to--but it definitely makes it SO much better if you have it! My sister, Cat, is the photographer and responsible for the fun presentation of the hummus!
Hummus
2 cans chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained but liquid reserved
1/4-1/3 cup lemon juice
3 lg cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1/2 cup tahini
1-1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 Tbs olive oil
Several dashes of cumin
Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth, adding reserved chick pea juice to make it desired smoothness. Refrigerate until ready to serve. For a fun presentation, you can spread on a plate with a drizzle of olive oil and a dash of cumin and/or cayenne.
Notes: I usually start with the smaller amounts of lemon juice and salt and then adjust up to taste. If I'm using bottled lemon juice I find that I use less than if using fresh squeezed lemon juice. You can omit the tahini if you don't have it. Its not as good but doable! If you live in China, these are some substitute options. I buy my canned chick peas at Metro, Carrefour, a wholesale market (fish market for those of you in CD), or an import store. Taobao has them as well--both canned and dried (which are used in falafel!). In Chinese they are called 三角豆 most commonly.
Question--Are there any people in the Middle East reading this blog that can give me/us insight on how to make that fun jalapeno/pepper sauce that is sometimes served on the top in restaurants?!
Hummus
2 cans chick peas (garbanzo beans), drained but liquid reserved
1/4-1/3 cup lemon juice
3 lg cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1/2 cup tahini
1-1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 Tbs olive oil
Several dashes of cumin
Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth, adding reserved chick pea juice to make it desired smoothness. Refrigerate until ready to serve. For a fun presentation, you can spread on a plate with a drizzle of olive oil and a dash of cumin and/or cayenne.
Notes: I usually start with the smaller amounts of lemon juice and salt and then adjust up to taste. If I'm using bottled lemon juice I find that I use less than if using fresh squeezed lemon juice. You can omit the tahini if you don't have it. Its not as good but doable! If you live in China, these are some substitute options. I buy my canned chick peas at Metro, Carrefour, a wholesale market (fish market for those of you in CD), or an import store. Taobao has them as well--both canned and dried (which are used in falafel!). In Chinese they are called 三角豆 most commonly.
Question--Are there any people in the Middle East reading this blog that can give me/us insight on how to make that fun jalapeno/pepper sauce that is sometimes served on the top in restaurants?!
yay! we're having a middle eastern feast on sunday so now I can add this to our list of things to make! what's a middle eastern feast without hummus?!?!
ReplyDeleteon tahini: isn't it just sesame paste? if so, would zhi ma jiang (芝麻酱) work? I may attempt to include it in ours on sunday and see if it totally jacks it up and makes it feel like we're eating hot pot. ha! have you tried that?
Girl, I've tried it all! I have tried zhimajiang. Its much stronger than tahini. I think the seeds have been roasted first. IF you use it, cut it in half at least. I have also used the zhimafen you can find in some grocery stores and added a little oil to it--again, use less. And there are some taobao sellers that have tahini. Just probably not in time to get it by Sunday!
ReplyDeletegreat I'll search tahini on taobao. and I'll try halving it for sunday. i'm sure it'll make it darker in color too!
ReplyDeleteHey April -- I have a taobao board on Pinterest and it has a couple links to tahini. And I actually usually make a half recipe of this--its plenty for us and some guests without TONS of leftovers.
ReplyDeleteFYI, I have bought dried chickpeas (yingzuidou) from this seller on taobao and been very please. Buy 4 bags and shipping is free. http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=1118232307
ReplyDeleteThanks for the taobao link, Julie! That's a big help!
ReplyDeleteI tried this recipe again, but this time I didn't use 芝麻酱. Instead, I bought about 1/2 cup raw hulled sesame seeds from my local market and blended them into a paste with a little olive oil. Because they were raw and hulled they added a much lighter sesame flavor and the hummus tasted a lot more like store-bought hummus. I think real tahini is made from hulled sesame.
ReplyDeleteHi Julie! I made this this week as well. I didn't have tahini or any local zhimafen. So I just got out the sesame seeds I buy in the store and I cleaned out my coffee grinder and powdered them. I think if it had been more powerful I might could have beat them into a paste but I also just added a touch of olive oil and used them (thicker than bought tahini). It worked fine!
ReplyDeleteIf you're having trouble getting garbanzo beans or they're too expensive you can use cooked white beans and the taste is very similar. Just cook the beans until they are very soft and then proceed with the hummus directions.
ReplyDeleteTo make the jalapeno stuff for the top I've tossed fresh lemon juice, chopped jalapenos, a little olive oil and let marinate for a little while giving the flavors a chance to come together....Not sure if that's "right" but it matched the taste of it at my favorite Lebanese restaurant back in NOLA and made a pretty presentation on top. Haven't found jalapenos here but plenty of substitute pepper options in the province we live!!
ReplyDeleteYes we've heard its as simple as that! Your favorite Lebanese in NOLA wouldn't be Mona's would it?? The one on Banks was a go-to dinner for us when we lived there!!
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