The Case of the Humbled Homemade Hummus

I love all kinds of hummus. I love red pepper hummus, black olive hummus, lemon and oregano hummus, garlic and black pepper hummus and so on....... Hummus is like a blank palette, ready for your creative culinary combination of spices and ingredients. It is simple to make, delicious to eat, and very much a budget worthy recipe to grace your table. You can make your own flavored hummus to pair perfectly with some of your favorite family dinners. You can replace bread and butter with hummus and pita, and I almost guarantee your grocery budget will significantly decrease. I say "almost" because you have to like hummus!! Who doesn't like hummus? Even honey pie (which is picky pie) likes hummus, so that should tell you something. Hummus is chock full of protein, iron, and even calcium. In the arena of satisfying, hummus/pita has bread/butter beat.

Not all hummus is created equal. I have probably tried over one hundred different hummus recipes, between store bought and homemade. Being a "foodie" I am much more in to the homemade hummus. Why? Like I said, it is a blank palette ready for my creative culinary combination of spices and ingredients. I have used canned garbanzo beans and dried garbanzo beans. In my opinion only, the dry beans win hands down. Obviously, you have to soak the beans overnight. There is a quick soak method, but I have never used this method with any dry beans I cook with. I always start with my basic hummus recipe. I am much more likely to add topping to my hummus than I am to incorporate them into the recipe. This is just personal preference. My hummus recipe is not an exact science. Things change a little depending how much water is left in my cooked beans.

Gin's Humbled Homemade Hummus

1 package 16 0z. dry Garbanzos Beans

1 head garlic, roasted

2 lemons, juiced and grated

1/8 cup peanut butter

1/8 cup Tahini

8 1/2 ozs. olive oil

Beef Broth

2 tablespoons garlic pepper

1 tablespoon seasoned salt

(1) Soak beans overnight. Rinse and put beans, 8 cups cool water into a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer beans approximately one hour. Remove hot beans with slotted spoon to a food processor. (2) Add to beans, roasted garlic, peanut butter, Tahini, juice of two lemons, grated peel of two lemons and pulse processor until bean are mixed. (3) While processor is running, slowly pour olive oil and saved liquid from cooked beans. (4) In almost all cases you will need beef broth. You are looking for a smooth, spreadable consistency. Add beef broth until you get the desired consistency. (5) While processor is running add garlic pepper and seasoned salt. (6) Done!

The hummus above is topped with smoked paprika, crushed red pepper, and a spicy stir fry seasoning. It is garnished with additional olive oil and fresh lemon slices. It is served with flavored pita chips. I have to tell you that the smoked paprika is out of this world as a topping for hummus. I can't explain how good it is, so you should be on your way out the door, to the store right now! This recipe makes a generous amount of hummus. When I first put hummus on the dinner table, I got a lot of blank stares. What I did was to cut the meat portion in half. Nobody in my family missed the meat. They ate dinner and enjoyed some hummus. That is how hummus can save you money on your grocery bill. Less meat, more hummus! It is filling and extraordinarily tasty. It is very cheap to make. It saves for quite some time in the fridge and I have had great success in freezing hummus.

I am going to leave you with this thought. You can top your homemade hummus with roasted red peppers, olives, pine nuts, pesto, sun-dried tomatoes, roasted vegetables, sauteed onions, mushrooms, etc..... You can use your hummus in a sandwich, as vegetable dip, as chip and cracker dip, on top of toast, or baked potato, etc..... Need I say more? Enjoy your weekend with some good homemade hummus!