The Yin and Yang of Hummus | Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Hummus

There are a few ready-made foods I will buy at the store -- and hummus is one of them. It's a quick and easy snack to have on hand for impromptu company -- except if it's my brother-in-law Bob. Although I was sure that there was no food on earth that Bob wouldn't like, he can't stand hummus. He must have had a bad first experience.

I tried to convince Bob that the real deal -- made from scratch with dried chickpeas, fresh garlic, and roasted red peppers -- was infinitely better. Although he gamely tried it, he still made a horrible face and was proud that at least he tried it.

Don't worry, Bob, I take no personal offense ; )

And even though homemade hummus using canned chickpeas is still much better than store-bought, taking the extra time to soak and cook dried chickpeas makes a world of difference. And my brand-new food processor (Thanks, Amy!) makes it a snap to make. You can keep some nice little chunks of chickpeas in the mixture.

My only problem is finding tahini locally. (Thanks, Amazon.)

My next biggest problem is choosing what kind to make. I hate to make a whole batch of just one flavor, since I am the only one at home who likes it. (Mr. Rosemary is in the same anti-hummus camp as Bob. The only food he thinks is worse is tofu, fondly referred to as toad food around here.)

So I divide up my basic garlic hummus and add jarred roasted red peppers to it. I suppose if I was totally true to my "homemade is better" credo,  I'd roast the peppers myself, too, but I have to draw the line somewhere for this self-indulgent treat.

I'll spread hummus on my morning toast or spread a layer on a tortilla when making a quick wrap for lunch.

So buy yourself some dried chickpeas and tahini and make this.

And if you're really ambitious, the perfect dipper would be homemade pita chips. (Yes, I bought these.)

By the way, I love Mark Bittman's book, How to Cook Everything. I even have the app for my iPhone, and use it especially  for things like checking times for roasting eggplant or making stir fry. I don't really consult it for recipes, but for reminders about cooking basics.

Basic Hummus
from How to Cook Everything

2 cups drained well-cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup tahini
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic (although I usually use at least 3!)
juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon ground cumin
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, about 1/4 teaspoon each

Whir everything together in the food processor until you have it as smooth as you want it.
Add a little water a little at a time if it's too thick.

To make roasted pepper hummus, add two roasted peppers to the food processor. To make my "yin and yang" version, I usually halve the hummus before adding any water and add the red peppers to the remaining hummus in the bowl. The peppers retain some moisture so they really don't need any more. To the "plain" hummus I then just stir in some water.

A Gift of Tahini

A very heavy box came in the mail a couple days before my birthday. It was from my daughter in Florida. To send this heavy box to Pennsylvania cost her, I knew. That it was early was, well, not typical. But the real surprise was what was inside.

She’d made a little game of this package. She put instructions inside the box that told me to be sure and open the little packages in their numbered order. Each wrapped package had a number and a little note. There were nine.

First there was hoisin sauce: “Can’t pronounce it, but I know you like it.” Then some plum sauce, duck sauce, and a can of sardines, one of anchovies. The label on the sardines said, “These are just weird, so they had your name on them.” Then there were bean threads, cellophane noodles and arborio rice. The piece de resistance, the last but not least was tahini: “Just what you always wanted, Mom! Happy birthday!”

You see, as much as I enjoy our country life, from time to time, I get a little frustrated at not being able to find some ingredients I want at our local grocery stores, at least when I want, or when making something like hummus, for instance, is on my mind. And I don’t think far ahead enough to order things online or when I’m in the city (which is rare, by the way.) So when Amy asked me what I wanted for my birthday, I told her I wanted her to get me some of those kinds of things to stock my pantry.

I’d really forgotten about telling her that until the package came. I called her right away and she told me what a ball she had shopping in a grocery store for my birthday present. She’s out of her element, buying this kind of stuff, so she had a friend along to guide her on this foreign mission, thank heaven.

Because I couldn’t be with my distant daughter yesterday, Mother’s Day, I decided I would make my hummus with the tahini she gave me a few months ago – just a little way to feel closer to her. And even though mothers aren’t supposed to be cooking on Mother’s Day, I decided this wasn’t really cooking – I was just indulging my hobby.

I set about making the hummus. It was a semi-spontaneous decision. A couple days before, I bought dried chickpeas at the store. I had soaked them the day before and then, on a whim, decided I would try roasting them instead of boiling them. It was like eating nuts!

I wasn’t sure if the roasted beans would be the same as canned as I made the hummus, since none of the recipes I looked at suggested roasting first. But the hummus was just great; it may have taken a little longer to puree in the food processor than canned beans would take, but it worked fine and did indeed imbue a nice, nutty flavor to the hummus.

So thanks again for the birthday present, Amy! It helped to make a nice Mother’s Day, too!


Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
1 cup chickpeas, or garbanzo beans
2 large cloves garlic
4 T lemon juice
4 T tahini paste
2 T olive oil
Water, as needed
½ t salt
¼ t black pepper
1 t cumin
Shake (or two) of crushed red pepper
Several drops sriracha sauce
2- 3 pieces large pieces of roasted red pepper, from jar

Place chickpeas, garlic cloves, lemon juice, tahini and olive oil in food processor bowl. Mix until well-blended, about five minutes, adding water as needed to make texture as creamy as desired. Add seasonings. Roughly chop red pepper, add to mixture and pulse a few times, leaving some red chunks of pepper visible. Refrigerate several hours before serving to allow flavors to meld. (Ideally served with homemade pita chips!)