Hummus - Beyond chickpeas, info and recipe link roundup

 

Chickpea hummus. Photo credit: SBZUZ/Pixabay.

 

Beans are a stock item for preppers and hummus is one of the simple and delicious things we can make with them.  The two signature ingredients in hummus are garbanzo beans, aka chickpeas, and tahini which is sesame seed paste.  But there are many more variations on this recipe than you might have ever imagined.  Here is my quick recipe for traditional hummus with canned chickpeas.

Hummus Recipe

• One 15-ounce can garbanzo beans drained with fluid reserved
• 1/3 cup tahini or to taste
• 1/4-1/3 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup reserved fluid from can
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon hot spice such as chili powder, paprika, or red pepper flakes 
• Optional 1 tablespoon olive oil
  

Mix all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  You may need to add more of the fluid from the can depending on how smooth you like it.  I honestly never measure but eyeball it.  I may also add other things like garlic cloves, garlic powder or pickled capers.  Also, coarse salt like kosher seems to make it pop more than regular table salt.  Spice it more or less to your taste.  I've used fresh lemon juice and bottled with good results.  The tahini is optional for those who are allergic to sesame seeds.  I've also substituted sesame seed oil when I was out of tahini and it tasted great.

Eating Hummus and Variations

Hummus is often served with pita bread and tabouleh.  Tabouleh is a finely chopped salad made with parsley, other veggies, spices and bulgur.  Bulgur is something you can make from your wheat stores and can be made into a cereal, put in bread, or made into a pie crust for savory foods like quiche or meat pies.  So it's actually a good prepper item.  I love hummus on Triscuit crackers or as a dip for veggies.

Olive oil is traditionally used in the base recipe and it does give hummus a smooth texture.  I use this plus some of the reserved fluid from canned or cooked beans. You don't have to use olive oil and just use the fluid, but the oil does add great flavor. I sometimes like to have a lunch of hummus, pita bread and veggies where I sprinkle extra paprika on.

So many beans can be used to make hummus including black-eyed peas, lentils, red beans, and lima beans.  You can also go raw with hummus and use sprouted beans.  I've made a couple of batches with sprouted chickpeas.  The texture was a little bit more grainy than cooked beans but still delicious.

Hope this helps any reluctant bean preppers get some ideas besides beans and rice.  Have fun experimenting.

© P.J. Deneen