Hummus, Chipotle Flavored...

Today we are headed to the Middle East with some homemade hummus.  One of my favorite beans is the chickpea, or garbanzo, bean.  I buy them dry and cook them myself.  I can eat a bowl of them, all by themselves.  They have a yummy buttery taste that really doesn't need anything added.  They are also great to toss into a salad, for some extra protein. 

But, if you are like the rest of my family, you don't just want to eat just plain chickpeas.  So, I cook extra and make hummus.  We love to eat hummus with tortilla chips, pitas, or veggies (ok, truthfully, I'M the only one that eats it with veggies...I don't have big veggie eaters in my house).  And because we are a family that likes things spicy, we add chipotle chiles!

Chipotles are dried jalapenos that are roasted and put into adobo sauce.  They bring a deliciously smokey taste to food.  It makes yummy hummus, outstanding hummus.

Chipotle Hummus

1 cup cooked, dried chickpeas (or 1 can if you don't cook the dry beans)

3 tbsp tahini (this is ground sesame seed paste...usually in the middle eastern section of the grocery store)

1 lemon, juice only

2 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 chipotles with some of the adobo sauce (more or less for spiciness...I used 1/2 a can)

1 tsp cumin

water

salt to taste

 

Hummus is super easy to make.  You basically gather all your ingredients and put them in a food processor/blender and make a paste.  That's it!  You need to add the beans, water, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, and oil first.  I added about 1/3-1/2 cup water...start with a little and add as needed to get the consistency you like. 

 

 

Next, go ahead and take out the chipotles and add to the hummus.  I didn't chop them since the blender would be doing that for me...the less work, the better, right?  You can continually taste the hummus until it becomes as spicy as you like.  I ended up adding half the can for us.  After you add the chipotles, add the cumin and salt.  Blend.  Taste.  Need more salt?  Add it.  Repeat until it's as delicious as you want it!

 

 

And that's it!  Easy Peasy!!  This goes great with some yummy Pita Bread!  Enjoy!

 

Happily Homemade,

Sandra