Hummmmmmus!

Yet another all time favorite, a bowl of home made hummus makes an appearance at pretty much every gathering of more than four people at my house. It is so quick and easy to make that I have (almost) sworn I will never pay money for hummus. This recipe or some version of it came from an old issue of Gourmet magazine:

Basic Hummus
1 can garbanzo beans
1 Tbs tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1-2 cloves garlic
1/2+ tsp cumin
salt to taste

Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans but reserve the water in the can. Put all ingredients in the blender. While blending, pour the reserved water little by little in the blender, until the mixture is smooth - usually 1/3 to 1/2 of the water. Be careful not to make it too runny. If you'd like less of a punch, cut back on the lemon juice. Add more cumin, up to 1 tsp, or more garlic if you'd like to emphasize them. Please, please, please, do not substitute oil for the tahini! Tahini is usually sold in Middle Eastern stores and is not all that expensive (~$2.99-$3.99). It gives hummus the creamy texture I absolutely adore (and you will too). Just stir before using.

A variation would be to use roasted garlic. It has a milder taste, so I would suggest 5-6-7-8 cloves, and maybe a little easier on the lemon juice so that the garlic would stand out. Despite the picture above, I prefer to wrap the garlic in foil with some olive oil when roasting it. Putting it directly on the grill does the job, but dries it out too much.

Well, last week I finally decided to go beyond the basic hummus recipe I have been whipping up incessantly for the last three years and try to mix things up a little but flavor-wise. I explored some of the offerings at the Farmer's Market, looked through Epicurious.com and FoodNetwork.com and perused the hummus section of the grocery store in search for ideas, I read the lengthy Wikipedia entry on hummus. And of course, I reminisced about some very tasty hummus variations gifted by a friend earlier this year. Finally I decided to go for something simple this time - Red Pepper Hummus, and maybe build up in time.

Red Pepper Hummus
1 can garbanzo beans
1 red bell pepper, grilled, peeled, seeded
1 Tbs tahini
1/8 cup lemon juice
1-2 cloves garlic
salt to taste

Prepare in the same manner as the basic recipe. Serve with pita bread (this doesn't go well with fresh veggies) or on a sandwich with some grilled eggplant. Yum!

Other ideas? Pine nuts and parsley or rosemary... Mint and lime... Olives... Ginger and caramelized onions (oh...)... What else? Any ideas?

And while we are on the topic of hummus, if you find yourself hungry in Manhattan, be sure to pay a visit to the Hummus Place, a hummus restaurant which now has three locations - East Village, West Village and Upper West Side. I had the pleasure to visit the original location on 99 McDougal Str. a couple of years ago and still have very fond memories of the best hummus I have ever tasted. And make sure you get the roasted pine nuts!

PS. Other flavors tried: black olives and rosemary (fabulous), pumpkin, nutmeg and a bit of black pepper (interesting)