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Black Bean Hummus
Tonight was our monthly book club meeting, and it was my turn to host. Because tomorrow is Cinco de Mayo, I thought I would do some Mexican appetizers. I made massive amounts of guacamole (and the cost of all of my supplies still managed to be cheaper than 1 serving in a New York restaurant!), jicama and carrots with lime and chilli powder, and black bean hummus. I have been thinking of black bean hummus for more than a year now (not constantly), but I have never gotten around to doing it. Part of the reason is that recipes for it started popping up in magazines around the time I thought of it, which sort of spoiled my excitement.
I thought I had everything under control until 4:30 pm, half an hour before people were supposed to arrive, and the black beans were still not cooked through. Oops. Even though I had soaked them all morning, they were taking a long time to cook. It got to the point where I just gave up on the idea entirely. It was not until 4:55, when I tried the beans one last time, and felt my teeth sink right through. I threw the beans, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and tahini in the blender and just started whizzing like a mad woman. Well, less than five minutes later I had a marvelous black bean hummus. If I make it again, I will go even more extreme and make it with pumpkin seed paste instead of sesame. I cooked the beans with a little nub of ginger, which is supposed to aid in digestion. Be kind to your friends and always use ginger or cumin when cooking beans to prevent your friends from getting gas.
Comments
recipe for black bean hummus
Your black bean hummus sounds delicious! Can you provide the measurements for the ingredients that you listed, or can I find the recipe somewhere? I had been searching the web for a recipe like this and could not find one, so THANK YOU!
Black Bean Hummus Measurements
Hi Pamela,
I am sorry it has taken me so long with the hummus recipe. I have no dried beans around me, but will definitely make the recipe and let you know the exact measurements soon. To get you going here are the basics: use about 1 cup of beans, soaked for 4 hours. Boil them covered in 4 cups of water (not the soaking liquid). You can add a little knob of ginger or a little cumin spice to the pot to prevent gas. When the beans are cooked through, drain and cool them to room temperature. In a food processor, chop up 2 cloves of garlic with a pinch of salt. Add the beans to the machine, and start pouring in the oil in a stream. You will want to use about 1/4 cup of olive oil, or enough to get the machine going and a paste started. Then add 2 heaping tablespoons of tahini, the juice of 1 lemon, 2 teaspoons of cumin powder (I love it and tend to add a lot), and salt to taste. If you want to loosen the hummus, add more olive oil. My mother prefers that I add extra water, so as not to make it so heavy, and that works well also. The recipe has to be adjusted by taste, depending on your preferences. The trick is to do as much from scratch as possible, and the flavor will definitely reflect that. Even toasting and grinding your cumin by hand will make a huge difference. I will try the recipe again and let you know if I make any new discoveries!