Hummus for the holidays!

Last night I made my famous homemade hummus for our Christmas party.  It has now become a given that I make my hummus when there's any kind of a pitch-in or a get-together of any sort.

I really don't remember where I originally found the recipe, but I've thrown in some variations from time to time.  Hummus is a very easy and very delicious chick pea based dip.  It's great with pita bread and pita chips, tortilla chips (soft or crunchy), or veggies.

The first time I made it, I opened up my cans of chick peas (AKA garbanzo beans) and poured them in a bowl.  I thought I'd use the hand mixer to mash them up.  BIG mistake!  I was finding chick peas all over my kitchen for days!!  They're really bouncy and buoyant little suckers!!

So, first off you need either a blender or a food processor.   I just use a blender, because I do not have a food processor.

Here are the basic ingredients:

2  cans of chick peas or garbanzo beans (about 15 oz. cans each)
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
2-3 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
3-4 fresh garlic cloves

You can find the chick peas anywhere.  I've found them at Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Meijer.  They're in the canned vegetables/beans section.

The olive oil is in any grocery store too.  It's usually in the baking aisle with the other cooking oils.

The tahini is the most mysterious of ingredients.  So far I've only found it at Meijer in the "specialty foods/international foods" section.  It's a tall, narrow glass jar.  It looks like a light brown/beige kind of color.

Of course, garlic is always in the produce.  It's usually next to the onions.

Everything is pretty inexpensive.  The chick peas are around $1 per can.  The olive oil is around $3.  The tahini is the most expensive part, usually around $5, but it lasts the longest.  If you keep it refrigerated it lasts months, see the expiration dates on the packaging but you should be able to get at least 4 or 5 batches out of it, if not more.

Directions:

Drain 1 can of the chick peas and not the other can, you'll need the "juice" for consistency (of course this is according to your own taste and you can adjust it)

Place chick peas and the allotted juice in a blender

Add the tahini and olive oil

Add the garlic cloves, I use a mincer, it looks like a nutcracker where you place the peeled garlic clove in a well and push it through a screen (be ready to smell it in your house for a while though)

Place the lid on the blender (trust me the beans bounce) and blend until desired consistency is achieved.  I like mine medium smooth, no chunks, but not too liquidy, again it's according to taste


I often times will add a little salt and pepper to taste as well.  Other things you can do include:

Red pepper flakes (like you put on pizza) about 1-2 tablespoons
Parmesan cheese (again, like on pizza) about 1-2 tablespoons

There are many variations you can create with hummus.  I've read about spinach being added too.  I think I'll give that a try sometime.

I plan to play around more with my hummus and will advise you on how it turned out (or didn't turn out).  If you have any good hummus variations, please send them my way!

The good thing about hummus.....it's relatively healthy!  The most high calorie or high fat item involved is the olive oil or tahini and there's very little of each.

Enjoy!