Pita and Hummus

I've been having some weird problems with hummus lately. Weird as in, no matter what I do, the hummus comes out wrong. So I decided to pray to the hummus gods and give it one more shot before retiring my bag of chick peas forever. Thankfully, they heard my pleas and allowed me to make a fabulous batch of hummus this time.

The pita I also made, but I used this recipe (not being a talented enough baker to make up my own bread recipes). In my oven, they required almost 20 minutes of baking time rather than the 10 specified. These pita are absolutely delightful, though. If any is left by tomorrow, I might fill one (they puffed up so beautifully!) with any hummus (if there's some left, though at the current rate, there might not be) remaining and take it to school with me.

Hummus (hummus bi tahini)

1/2 cup chick peas, picked through and rinsed
water, water and more water
1 teaspoon salt
2 medium cloves garlic (I used 1 large and 1 small)
1-2 tablespoons tahini*
juice of 2 lemons

Soak the peas overnight in lots of water. Transfer to a saucepan and fill with new water. Bring to a boil, then simmer until very, very soft (~2 hours-ish). Do not discard cooking liquid. In a food processor or large mortar and pestle (sadly, I actually cooked too many beans to do it in my biggest mortar; which means maybe I need a bigger mortar if I can find space for a third one) blend together garlic and salt. Add beans and blend until relatively smooth paste. Add tahini and lemon, blend again. Add cooking water, a little at a time, until you have the right texture. Transfer to plate, add olive oil to the top (today I have Pegasus oil, which tasted just ducky) and ground sumac or paprika. Eat, enjoy. Serves 2-4 (if you're making this as a meal, it serves 2. As an appetizer, 4).



*I used Joyva tahini, but I actually think both Krinos and Sadaf make a much better tahini than Joyva does. So if you have to go to the store to get the tahini, get the Krinos or Sadaf. And if you know of one better than those two, please tell me so I can pick it up when I run out of the Joyva.

Comments

  1. Anonymous10:03 PM

    Oh, that looks tasty! I didn't get a chance to make either pita or hummus this evening. As you might see from my journal, I was too busy dealing with other foods.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Allie3:20 PM

    It was really good. Or rather, is. I'm eating the last bits of it (and the pita) for lunch/snack today. People at my school look at me funny anytime I get a snack out of my bag.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Laurie Constantino6:39 PM

    I don't know if you're a dry bean purist, but canned chickpeas are really a perfect ingredient to use for hummus. Their texture is exactly right for pureeing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Allie9:20 PM

    I don't want to say I'm a purist, per se, but I am pretty frugal these days. I only work 2 days a week during the semester (and I take summer classes), so paying for a can of beans isn't an economically sound decision. Where I shop, a pound of beans is a dollar, and I can just grab a handful as I need it.

    I miss the days of being able to use canned beans to make hummus without feeling the financial differences.

    As an aside, I thoroughly enjoyed your right-up on pine tips. I used to chew them all the time as a kid. I'd forgotten how delightful their flavour is, until I saw your post.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Allie9:21 PM

    By "right-up," I meant "write-up." Evidently my brain has stopped working.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous8:49 PM

    If your like me, sometimes you can't make it to the store to get tahini...but, if you happen to have natural or organic peanut butter on hand try adding 1-2 tablespoons of it. It makes for a very creamy texture due to the peanut oil and gives it that signature nutty flavor!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Allie9:10 PM

    Interesting, Anon.. I never considered a peanut flavoured hummus before. I wonder if I even have peanut butter; I will look!

    ReplyDelete

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