Red Pepper Hummus

We eat a lot of hummus. I don’t know if that’s because we love it, or because I buy it by the bucket at Costco so we have to.  At my last visit to Costco, I didn’t feel like buying the bucket o’ hummus because it just seemed too big. You know how that happens? Some days Costco portions seem over the top - especially when I’m feeling like a minimalist.

Besides, I said to myself, you could make that for a buck with your dried chickpeas in the basement. And so it was I found myself soaking and simmering beans that afternoon. Although to be fair, I soaked them and then went out, leaving the simmering to Paul.

The next morning, I found my cooked chickpeas neatly stacked in the fridge in Tupperware containers. Oh right. I’d forgotten. A handful of dried beans may not turn into a beanstalk, but they do expand like crazy once they are cooked. I had enough chickpeas to make two batches of hummus. In fact when all was said and done, I ended up with even more hummus than I would have if I had just bought the darn tub at Costco.

Up to my eyeballs in chickpeas, I remembered I also had a jar of roasted red peppers which has been sitting in the coldroom for at least a year. It was at the back of the shelf, and who knows how long it had actually been there. I opened it up and gave it a sniff. Perfectly fine. After all, expiry dates are more of a guideline, really.

So with my materials laid out in front of me, I made two batches of red pepper hummus. The first batch seemed very vinegar-y because of the lemon juice, and because I didn’t rinse the red peppers off when I took them out of the jar. (They’re preserved in vinegar.) So for the second batch, I omitted the lemon juice and rinsed off the peppers.

When they were freshly made, the first batch, as I said, was acidic. But after it sat for a couple of hours, the flavours mellowed and it was actually quite pleasant.

The second batch took on the flavour of the tahini and had quite a different but equally pleasing taste.

Which was better? I can’t really say, definitively. I’ve never actually met a hummus I didn’t like.

If you don’t have someone in your house who likes cooking beans, you could easily use a can of chickpeas. However, canned chickpeas are crunchier and give a grainy texture to the hummus. If you cook your own chickpeas, you can cook the heck out of them and you will get a creamier textured end product.

My preference is to rinse the chickpeas (whether canned or cooked) and add fresh water to thin the hummus, as necessary. (But full disclosure: some swear by saving the drained liquid from the chickpeas and using that.)

Hummus 1

2 cups chickpeas, cooked or canned, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup roasted red peppers
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini
1 large clove garlic
1/2 tsp smoky paprika (optional or you could use cumin)
1 Tbsp olive oil
water, as necessary to get hummus to right consistency

Hummus 2

2 cups chickpeas, cooked or canned, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup roasted red peppers
1/4 cup tahini
1/2 tsp smoky paprika
salt and pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp olive oil
water, as necessary to get hummus to right consistency

Method:
Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it’s all mixed together. Then turn processor on and let it process for up to a minute, adding water as necessary to get the right consistency.

Yes, it’s that easy.

I suppose, you could roast your own red peppers, but these were waiting patiently for me to remember them in my coldroom

Just mix it all together and give it a whirl in the food processor