I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this…
| February 18, 2011 | Posted by Kristin under Healthy Eating, Recipes, Savings/Shortcuts, Vegetarian |
… but it’s really easy to make your own hummus. I have in fact been told this many times by many different people, but until recently, I had never actually done it myself. When I ate hummus, it was usually at a delightful restaurant near the University of Wisconsin campus (Side note: Mediterranean Cafe, your hummus is addictive and should come with a warning label), or from a plastic container procured at Trader Joe’s. I knew the homemade hummus from the restaurant was better, but I just didn’t think I had the time to make my own.
The chili powder and cayenne add some nice zip in both flavor and presentation
Little did I know, it takes barely no time at all. I made my first batch of hummus for a Super Bowl party, and it received rave reviews from attendees. Best of all, hummus is vegetarian/vegan, so it’s a crowd-pleaser for everyone you may invite. I used my immersion blender for this recipe, and I highly recommend it — it’s just more fun to mix things up with one of those than in a regular blender or food processor, and you can use any bowl you want, to boot.
“Seriously, just make your own hummus” recipe
Adapted from Allrecipes.com
- 1 clove garlic (I think I used three… it was garlicky, but I like garlic)
- 1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, half the liquid reserved
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons tahini (Check the peanut butter section of most grocery stores. Bonus: tahini, AKA ground sesame seeds, lasts a long time, so it’s not a one-time ingredient that you buy for a recipe and it immediately goes bad)
- 1 clove garlic, chopped (I’m not sure why it calls for another clove separately, but I used three total)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- black pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- A few tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves
- Chili powder and cayenne pepper to taste
In a blender, chop the garlic. Pour garbanzo beans into blender, reserving about a tablespoon for garnish. Place lemon juice, tahini, chopped garlic, salt, cilantro, chili powder and/or cayenne pepper in blender. Blend until creamy and well mixed.
Transfer the mixture to a medium serving bowl. Sprinkle with pepper and pour olive oil over the top. Garnish with reserved garbanzo beans and more chili powder/cayenne pepper.
I did not realize that making your own hummus could be this easy. incredible. what is the difference between an immersion blender and a food processor? I’ve been thinking about buying some culinary equipment, but don’t know what to purchase. I want to get something that’s really versatile and that I can use for a various multitude of tasks…including making hummus. any thoughts?
btw, i’m also a fan of trader joe’s hummus. delicious.
What I love about the immersion blender is that it’s shaped like a stick, basically, and you don’t need to use a specific container to process the food, like you do with a food processor, so if you’re making something like butternut squash soup that needs to be blended, you can do it right in the soup pot! I think I just have a basic Cuisinart immersion blender (http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-CSB-76BC-SmartStick-200-Watt-Immersion/dp/B000EGA6QI). I would probably recommend it somewhere near the top of my most-used culinary gadgets, but I’m not the best one to ask about that, since my kitchen is not super well-stocked.