Hummus Recipes

I have had a couple requests to share my hummus recipes. One is a traditional Chickpea hummus and the other is a Black Bean hummus that I had had at restaurant and then came home and after researching Black Bean hummus recipes, came up with this. Because of my love of food I will probably post recipes on here whether you like it or not, whenever I come up with something I liked a lot- especially if it was healthy, which is going to be the case with my cooking from now on. I wish I had pictures of these recipes but I don't, hopefully I will add those later.

BLACK BEAN HUMMUS
1 clove garlic (more if you like)
1 (15 ounce) can black beans; drain and rinsed (or boil your own beans, it takes longer and you have to add more salt)
Juice of 1 lime (about 2 Tbl)
Zest of 1 lime
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini (if you have it—I didn’t add this but I did add probably the same amount of canola oil instead)
2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tsp salt or to taste
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Black pepper to taste
1 tsp Chili powder
Cilantro like 2 handfuls
If too thick add chicken stock

The way I often make food is to add stuff then taste it, add more of anything I think it needs, then mix, taste, add-- until it tastes good to me. The best way to blend the hummus is in a food processor. Don’t chop anything just stick it all in there. If you don't have a food processor you can use a blender, but you will have to thin it quite a bit. If you don’t have the food processor and your blender doesn't work well for it, you can mash up the beans by hand and chop everything separate and then mix it together.

TRADITIONAL HUMMUS

1 can of Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) drained and rinsed (again you can boil your own if you want)
2 cloves of Garlic
3 TBL Tahini (I eyed it by throwing in a glob-and it was great)
¼ - ½ cup of chicken stock (or whatever kind you like)
1 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp coriander
2-3 Tbl EVOO

I adapted this recipe from the one on Greenlitebites.com -- I have a link to that site under weightwatchenrecipes in my blogs list. The original doesn't call for tahini, evoo or coriander. I can' t have hummus without tahini, I have made it before without and it was not right to me. I had to throw it out (black bean hummus is fine without though). I can find tahini in any health food store or grocery stores with a health food section. I have never added curry or coriander or chicken stock to my hummus in the past and I know the restaurants don't do it. I skeptically decided to do it this time and really like it. The stock helps to make the hummus the perfect thickness without having to add a ton of oil or lemon juice or water (water waters the flavor down). I loved the addition of all of these things, it is the best hummus I have made at home I believe, Ed loved it too. You can omit the oil if you are worried about calories- I will try that next time, but I know olive oil is a staple in hummus. Most restaurants also use a lot of tahini, more than I have in this recipe.

Again I throw all this stuff in a food processor and mix it up. Again the blender will make it thinner and if you need to you can mash it up by hand, but it will probably not be as smooth.