For those of you that want to make hummus easily, this one’s for you.
- 1 25-oz can of garbanzo beans, drained (save the juice)
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup tahini
- around 2/3 cup of bean juice
- juice of one medium to large lemon
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- pinch of cayenne pepper
(It’s the “third cup, third cup, two thirds cup” and the “1 teaspoon, 1 teaspoon” that makes it easier to remember for me. If you use the smaller cans of beans, you’ll have to do the arithmetic to figure it out and I’m pretty sure it won’t be as easy to remember.)
Throw everything into a blender and blend it up on the low speed. You want to make sure enough bean juice has been added so that the hummus has a nice flow in the blender so that you don’t need to keep pushing it down to get mixed up, but not too much juice (but remember that it will thicken up in the refrigerator).
If you want to have smooth(er) hummus you can do one of two things: either peel each and every garbanzo bean by hand (a very meditative exercise–expect to meditate for 30-40 minutes for a 25-oz can) or do a mostly-effective chemical peel of them by bringing the beans to a quick boil in a solution of water and 1 teaspoon baking soda (followed by rinsing in cold water and sort of squishing them gently to get the skins off).
A few things of note here:
- if you’re into BPA-free garbanzo beans, make sure you double-check the label because at least one supplier has moved to BPA-free for the smaller cans but not the larger cans (I even verified this by sending them an email to confirm…)
- if you soak dried garbanzo beans you’ll probably have to figure out if the amounts are still reasonable. However, do NOT boil them with baking soda–you’ll end up with bad tasting beans that are mushy on the outside and hard on the inside 🙁