<p>My daughter love hummus, but that stuff is pretty darn expensive for what it is. I’d love to find a great basic recipe so we can make it ourselves. Suggestions?</p>
<p>A basic recipe is two cans of chickpeas, plus about a half-cup of tahini (sesame paste), olive oil, minced garlic, salt, and lemon juice to taste. Process the beans in your food processor with the garlic (I use tons, but not everybody does), tahini, and a little salt, drizzling in olive oil and some lemon juice until you get the consistency you like. </p>
<p>From there you can customize, with much more lemon, or lots more spices (we tend to add a lot of cayenne and crushed red pepper flakes), or whatever you like.</p>
<p>There are many variations…this one tastes like the one I can buy at Trader Joe’s!</p>
<pre><code>* 1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
- 1 (4 ounce) jar roasted red peppers
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (optional)
</code></pre>
<p>DIRECTIONS</p>
<ol>
<li>In an electric blender or food processor, puree the chickpeas, red peppers, lemon juice, tahini, garlic, cumin, cayenne, and salt. Process, using long pulses, until the mixture is fairly smooth, and slightly fluffy. Make sure to scrape the mixture off the sides of the food processor or blender in between pulses. Transfer to a serving bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (The hummus can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Return to room temperature before serving.)</li>
<li>Sprinkle the hummus with the chopped parsley if desired before serving.</li>
</ol>
<p>The process sounds sort of similar to making homemade mayonaise. The tahini is something I don’t have, but know where to get.</p>
<p>Daughter likes the original hummus from TJ’s but prefers one from Fresh Market. The latter costs about $4.00 for a little container!</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>kathie, similar but WAY easier, fortunately! Have fun.</p>
<p>there is a brand called Sabra… and they have garlic hummus and roasted red pepper hummus… and we just bought a really large container of it at BJ’s for our joint graduation party for only $5 … and BJ’s also had large bags of Stacy’s pita chips for $4 … really good prices… not sure if you have BJ’s by you, but I am reconsidering my Sam’s membership based on our BJ’s shop… lots more “current” brands that everyone likes… </p>
<p>I have made hummus… one of the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks has a recipe…it was good, but I am a big fan now of Sabra …</p>
<p>The problem we encounter is that the large containers are just too large and tend to go bad quickly. I bought great tasting hummus at Costco but there’s only so much hummus a person can eat in a week. ;)</p>
<p>Hah Kathiep…my well over 6 ft. teen-man-boys can devour the largest container of hummus you can imagine in about 10 minutes flat. They love hummus. I finally decided it was a heck of a lot cheaper to make it for them. I’ll send them over when you have excess…</p>
<p>^ Well, if one of them is around 24, please do! ;)</p>
<p>Do you have Trader Joes? Great hummus cheap. Given all the ingredients you need it would be hard to beat their price unless you make it very often.</p>
<p>Tahini and cans of chickpeas are staples in our house! The tahini keeps well in the refrigerator after it’s opened.</p>
<p>These amounts are what I remember from a recipe I used to follow. I don’t measure at all any more, but it gives the basic proportions .</p>
<p>2 cans chick peas drained
2-5 cloves garlic, peeled (depending on taste)
juice of 2 lemons (more or less to taste)
1/3 C tahini
2/3 C olive oil
couple grinds of pepper
1/3 C warm water</p>
<p>Whirl it up in a food processor, stopping to scrape the sides a few times.
Taste. Add salt, if needed (the canned chickpeas can be salty). Add lemon juice if needed and adjust consistency with olive oil or more water.</p>