Notes From My 30s

(Roasted Red Bell Pepper) Hummus

Hummus may be the perfect food to me. I love how much protein and fiber are in them, how creamy it is without needing mayo or dairy, and how full it keeps me, especially when spread on toast. I grew up eating baby carrots and would eat them with ranch constantly but that never kept me quite full. It also wasn't the healthiest thing in world to be consuming in such large amounts regularly, which is what I did in college frequently lol. The first time I ever tried hummus must have been in middle school when my family started occasionally shopping at Trader Joe's (mostly to get Pirate's Booty which was the most popular snack at school). We would regularly get that hummus quartet with regular hummus, sundried tomato hummus, roasted garlic hummus, and spicy hummus which I would eat for breakfast on TJ's naan. I think that combo got me through all of my high school breakfasts which were way too early in the morning (before 6am as a teenager? Brutal) and the texture of things like yogurt and banana would make me kind of gag.

Back when I lived in SF, I still regularly shopped at the Trader Joe's on Masonic Ave on my way home from class since my neighborhood grocery stores were either way too expensive or didn't have a lot in stock. TJ's isn't the cheapest but they had pretty good deals on certain things at least back then. Nowadays, I almost never shop at TJ's (way too crowded and out of the way) and I never really liked Sabra's hummus either. I do most of my grocery shopping at a local Mediterranean grocery store and they have their own hummus which is sooooo delicious. We also have a pretty great variety of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern places in my area and their hummus just blows anything else I've tried from big chain grocery stores out of the water. I also constantly heard how much cheaper it is to make your own hummus at home and how it's great to be able to control the amount of salt that goes into it, unlike the super salty options at stores.

When M and I moved in together, I tried some hummus recipes in our little Ninja blender but it came out way too coarse, gritty, and flavorless. Also, one of the recipes I tried didn't even include tahini somehow? After inheriting my husband's grandmother's old but powerful food processor, I went hunting for better hummus recipes and came across Cookie + Kate's excellent recipe which I've tweaked a bit using some tips from the Mediterranean Dish. I've been using this recipe for the past few years now and make hummus almost every week. I've doubled the original C+K recipe since we go through hummus so quickly in this household.

I've been adding roasted red bell peppers to our hummus batches lately and they have turned out so excellent but can easily be omitted. The base recipe is the perfect canvas for any add ins or adaptations too. Simmering the chickpeas with the baking soda really sets this recipe apart since the chickpeas become so tender and blend very easily, producing a smooth hummus. You also cannot taste the baking soda! Likewise, adding the ice cubes to the food processor produces a super smooth and creamy hummus as well. (You can just substitute ice cold water for the ice cubes if you are worried about your food processor's blades).

INGREDIENTS

ROASTED PEPPERS

BASE HUMMUS

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 425 degrees F. While preheating, remove stems and slice red bell peppers and jalapenos in half, removing seeds and membrane. Toss the peppers and jalapenos with avocado oil and place skin side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, pushing down the bell pepper halves to lightly crush them and make them flat. If the bell peppers were large, you can cut them into strips to help them roast more evenly.
  2. Roast for 20 minutes until skins have blackened patches on them and have turned papery. Place them in a glass container or ceramic bowl and cover with plastic wrap for 10 minutes to help them steam and make peeling the skins off easier.
  3. While peppers are roasting and steaming, boil some water in a medium sized pot and add the drained and rinsed chickpeas and the baking soda and simmer for 20 minutes until the chickpeas become tender and are almost falling apart. They should be very easily crushed with almost no resistance when they are ready. Drain the chickpeas in a strainer and lightly rinse off with some cold water.
  4. While the chickpeas are simmering, crush and chop the garlic and juice the lemons. Place them inside the food processor along with the salt. Run the processor for a minute or two until the garlic is chopped very finely. Let the garlic/lemon mixture sit for at least 10 minutes to help the garlic mellow out and the flavors combine.
  5. Add tahini to the garlic/lemon mixture and run the food processor for 2 minutes or so. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the processor as needed to make sure all of the tahini is mixed in and makes a white, very creamy, smooth paste. Run the processor again and add the ice cubes one at a time while running until they become blended into the paste.
  6. Add the peeled roasted peppers and jalapenos to the processor and run until they are well combined with the mixture. Then, add all of the cooked chickpeas from the strainer and the cumin and paprika and red pepper flakes if using and run the processor once more. While running, after the chickpeas get all blended up, drizzle in the olive oil.
  7. Taste and then add more salt or lemon juice if needed. You can also use a pinch of citric acid or sumac too if you are out of lemon juice! It adds tartness without adding further liquids to the hummus which can be handy it it's already on the liquidy side. Refrigerate hummus for best flavor for at least a couple of hours. However, I usually end up eating some as soon as it is done and it is still delicious! It will thicken and the flavors will combine more after refrigerating.

My favorite ways to eat this hummus:

This recipe is so adaptable. Easily omit the roasted peppers for a plain hummus or substitute in sun dried tomatoes. You can also roast an entire head of garlic in the oven and blend it up to make roasted garlic hummus which is also delicious. I have also substituted cannellini beans for the chickpeas which also worked quite well! I have seen recipes for a beautiful bright magenta beet hummus which I would love to try making soon. The only thing that cannot really be substituted is the tahini which is a must for this hummus in my opinion.

Luckily tahini also has many different uses, such as making a tahini sauce with some garlic and lemon, thinned out with water which is delicious on veggies, meats, salads, and chips. It is also a component to make an amazing dipping sauce for hot pot or Korean BBQ since it is just sesame paste after all! Combine with soy sauce, black vinegar, chili oil or paste or crisp, ponzu, or sesame oil and it is wonderful for thinly sliced meats and simmered or grilled veggies. Once in a pinch and I couldn't find tahini on the shelves of my local store, I blended up a canister of white sesame seeds I had bought for Asian recipes in the back of my spice cabinet with a little bit of olive oil. It was a bit gritty but the hummus still turned out decently to my surprise!

Earlier in the pandemic, canned chickpeas were quite hard to find so I tried using dried chickpeas. My first attempt at using dried chickpeas was a disaster. I boiled them for hours and, like the lentils in my last post, they were old so they never softened. I was so put off by it that I didn't try using dried chickpeas again until a year later. Again, the InstantPot is a lifesaver when it comes to pressure cooking dried legumes and you can add baking soda when soaking the chickpeas to soften them. You can also simply simmer them with baking soda on the stovetop after pressure cooking them in the IP.

I have to say, using dried chickpeas instead of canned made for an even tastier hummus. The nutty flavor of the chickpeas really comes through. I also removed the skins from almost all the chickpeas before and it does indeed yield an insanely silky smooth hummus. However, since I make the hummus so often and we eat it so quickly, I just rely on the canned chickpeas the vast majority of the time since it is a time saver, especially if I am using such flavorful add-ins already like the roasted peppers or sundried tomatoes. However, if I were making it for a special occasion or for company, I would definitely go through the extra effort of cooking the dry chickpeas and skinning them to highlight their flavor. But for now, the canned is totally fine with us and I save the dried chickpeas for things like chana masala.

#cooking #food memories #recipe