Heavenly Hummus
Heavenly Hummus
So easy and versatile, you'll never use store-bought again
You do not need oil to make hummus! You don’t even need to cook!
I never knew how easy it was to make homemade hummus, but after months of making it at weekly, I’ve become a hummus pro. All you need is a high speed blender or food processor and a great hummus base recipe to start with, and from there you can tweak it with myriad flavor profiles. So let’s get to it!
Hummus Base Recipe
Ingredients
1 can chick peas (aka garbanzo beans,) reduced sodium or salt free if possible
2 fat cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
1 overflowing teaspoon tamari, reduced sodium if possible
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/3 cup water (You’re not going to use it all! Set aside & await instructions.)
Method
Drain and rinse the chick peas. Save the juice, also called “aquafaba” (which I think literally translates to bean water) up to 3 days for any recipe that calls for it. It makes for a whipped cream like dessert topping.
Mince the garlic nice and fine.
Pour everything except the water into the food processor, and process until it’s mush.
Now add water, one tablespoon at a time with processor running. Go slow, give few seconds after each add. When you have enough water in there, the hummus built up on the sides will slide down and blend in like it should. This usually takes me 3 to 4 tablespoons of water.
The Crucial Step
TASTE! you might want to add a little lemon juice, or vinegar, or more garlic, or more cumin.
Scrape into a small container, and serve with raw vegetables, or cover and store. Keeps for several days in the fridge.
Variations
Don’t be afraid to experiment with every imaginable flavor twist!
Switching out the type of beans can give you white bean hummus or black bean hummus.
Adding roasted red peppers gives you roasted red pepper hummus
Doubling the amount of garlic gives a lovely garlic hummus. Roast the garlic before adding, for an unbelievable flavor!
Adding diced or better yet, roasted diced tomatoes gives it a whole new slant.
Need more tang? Add a little lemon juice!
Avocado makes a rich addition.
Spice-lovers can add curry instead of cumin and more of it, then shake in some red pepper flakes or even mince a little chile pepper and include in the blending.
Other uses
Best potato salad I ever made was the one where I had about 1/2 cup leftover basic hummus in the fridge, and added it to the salad, along with more yellow mustard, dill pickle relish and the like. Worked beautifully.
If you begin with mashed chickpeas, you can tweak the flavor profile and consistency by adding or reducing the liquid, to make just about any type of sauce or condiment you need.
Bonus!
Just as I was creating this post, an email came through from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies with 12 summer recipes, so I thought that would be a valuable link to share with you here. I’ve tried several of these and can vouch for them being entirely whole food, plant-based, low sodium, oil-free and amazingly good for you.
FIRE UP THE GRILL: 12 Healthy Meatless Summer Recipes
Need a summer read?
