Hummus Three (or More) Ways

Hummus is one of those things that’s such a crowd pleaser, and so easy to make, yet fairly expensive to buy. In a pinch, I settle for the decent hummus from the supermarket, but there are times where I want more than that stupid little tub can hold.

To show the versatility of the preparation, I prepared two flavored varieties from the basic recipe (my pictures show ingredients for triple the following recipe).

All you need is

• One 15 oz can of chickpeas (drained)
• Juice from 1 large lemon
• 1/4 cup tahini paste
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 Tablespoons good olive oil
• 1 Teaspoon kosher salt (or less)
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 Tablespoons of cold water

In the bowl of a food processor, add the lemon juice and tahini.

Whip this for 30 seconds until you get a good emulsified mixture. Then add the garlic, olive oil, salt, and cumin.

Pulse until combined, then add the chickpeas and continue to pulse until all chunks have broken down.

If you don’t mind a more rustic version, you’re done. If you want something smoother, add the water and turn the food processor on for 30 to 60 seconds.

I removed 1/3 of mine and called that “plain hummus”.

To another 1/3, I added about 2 tablespoons of shredded horseradish.

With the remaining hummus in the food processor bowl, I added some chipotle in adobo and some dried ancho chile and continued to pulse until incorporated. This was my “chile hummus”.

I think the whole operation from setup to clean up took me 10 minutes, and the ingredients cost me $10 which left me with lots of tahini, chipotle, and horseradish to spare.

Gotta love quick, inexpensive snacks!