My Roasted Pepper Hummus Recipe

This is the average of about four different recipes I found online, and I enjoyed making it quite a lot. Simple to prepare, the hardest part was washing out the blender after using it!







Ingredients:

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 can of garbanzo beans/chick peas (19oz can -or- see below for using dried chick peas)
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice (fresher is better)
• 2 tablespoons tahini
• 1+ teaspoon salt (1 spoon of salt, plus some for sprinkling)
• 2+ tablespoons olive oil (2 spoons of oil, plus some for spritzing)
• 1 red bell pepper (orange or yellow also works; green not so much)

Process:

Roasting the Bell Pepper

1. core and slice the bell pepper into strips
2. place the slices in a pan (or, even better on a grill over coals)
3. lightly spray with olive oil (I use a small spray bottle like this -->)
4. sprinkle with salt (kosher salt works best- if you don't have kosher, use a LOT less granular salt)
5. put over heat and cover (either with the pan-cover, or the grill-cover)
6. allow the peppers to acquire grill-marks and begin to discolor (they should smell sweet)
7. remove from the heat and put aside for later

Blending the Hummus

1. for hotter hummus, chop the garlic beforehand (chopped garlic allows more of their internal heat to come out- I like chopping one and leaving the other whole)
2. open the can of beans, drain and retain half the water they came in (for thicker hummus, only retain 1/3rd of the water)
3. combine beans, garlic, roasted peppers, lemon juice, tahini, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in the blender
4. purée until everything is smooth

Seasoning the Hummus

This is a fairly low-heat mixture. To increase the heat (or make changes to the base flavor) season just before blending the ingredients. Some ideas:

Brutal Heat Hummus - add 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon white pepper, 1/2 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon cumin

Himalayan Hummus - add 1 teaspoon yellow curry, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, and 1/4 teaspoon sumac

Dried vs. Canned Chick Peas:
If you've got a package of dried chick peas, here in the US it will most likely be a 1 lb. bag. Since there are 16oz to the pound (1 pound = 453.6 grams), you might notice that the can has more chick peas in it than the bag. The can has 1lb, 3oz of chick peas (or 538.6 grams). This is fine, but you'll have to be more vigilant while blending.


First off, to re-hydrate the chick peas for this recipe, place the chick peas in a pot or other vessel that you can cover. Add water to cover them by at least three fingers (four if you've small hands). Salt the water, and stir. Cover the vessel and leave to sit for 6 ~ 8 hours.


Drain the peas, but retain a cup of the water. Use this water to thin the resulting hummus as you blend.