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2/07/2010

Almost Hummus


Ok so lately I have had a serious craving for hummus and since this Middle Eastern treat is nowhere to be found in the country of Korea, the only way to have it is to make it yourself. No problem! I picked up a bag of dried chick peas from the foreign food mart, found a recipe and set to work. I tossed a few handfuls of beans and some water into a bowl Friday night before I went to bed to let them soak in a bath for nearly half a day. Only if I were this lucky to spend half a day in a bath, but that is beside the point. Before I go any further with these directions, I must admit that I had no idea what I was getting myself into as this was my first time working with dried beans!

After about 13 hours I awakened my little chick peas from their super soak, rinsed them off and set them into a pot to simmer in another bath for about 2 hours. I checked on them every once in awhile to see how they were coming along and was convinced that I had purchased the driest batch of chick peas as it took almost 3 hours for them to become soft enough to mash. Once I removed them from the pot and got ready to mash them I suddenly realized that these babies have a skin that needed to be removed before mashing. So I transferred my work from the kitchen to the living room floor and turned on a good movie while I deshelled (not sure if this is even a word but I am going for it) every single one of them. 45 minutes later, I took the bowl back to the kitchen and stood pondering at my recipe wondering how I was going to pull off making this batch of hummus without 2 of the essential ingredients, tahini and a food processor! I figured I would rely on my trusty fork who has become the master of all things possible. I began mashing for about 3 minutes before my hand started to fall asleep and the complaining started. Since my husband is so wonderful, he took over and had the whole job done in about 5 minutes-don't know how he did that! I went back to the kitchen, chopped some fresh parsley and prepared all of the other ingredients. I stirred in some olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper, sesame seeds and parsley into the mix. The consistency was not exactly what I was going for, but I blame that on the lack of a food processor. Obviously what I made was not exactly hummus because it lacked tahini which is essential for the amazingness (not sure about this word either) of hummus. But all in all it tasted pretty damn close to a substitute for hummus! Now off to make some Naan bread to go with it!

Almost Hummus Recipe
Recipe by: Gretchen Brown
Makes about 2 cups

Ingredients:
1.5 cups dried chick peas
2-3 TBS lemon juice
1/4- 1 / 3 cup olive oil
2 TBS chopped fresh parsley
1 TBS roasted sesame seeds
salt and pepper to season

Directions:
1. Soak chick peas overnight for 12 hours.
2. Simmer chick peas in water for about 1.5-2 hours until soft.
3. Remove shells from the chick peas.
4. Mash the chick peas and mix in the olive oil and lemon juice. Add more if needed. Mix in parsley, sesame seeds, and salt and pepper.
5. Drizzle with olive oil. Serve with warm pita, fresh veggies, and olives.








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