One great thing about beans is how easily you can buy them organic. I mean, it's easy on your pocketbook. When you're choosing between a 79-cent can of standard chickpeas and a 99-cent can of organic, it's not too hard to toss the organic can in the cart. What's 20 cents? (Much harder: the choice between $1.99 and $7.99 ground beef. Ugh.)
Making your own hummus is also quite cheap. Tahini tends to come in big pricey jars but lasts a long time in the fridge, so it's a front-loaded investment. If you enjoy hummus, it's worth plunking down $7 for a jar of tahini because that will produce many, many batches of cheapo hummus.
I actually use a teensy food processor for this recipe-- also almond butter and guacamole and chopping onions and carrots and making breadcrumbs-- and it works perfectly well. I'm so glad I put it on my wedding registry (thanks, Mom, for assuring me that I would need it). All the same, this big beauty is on my wish list!
Seriously Good Hummus
(inspired by this recipe)
1 15-oz can chickpeas, drained with liquid reserved
4 tablespoons tahini
4 tablespoons lemon juice
2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
generous pinch ground cumin
Place all ingredients except reserved chickpea liquid into the bowl of your food processor. Blend thoroughly to mash beans and chop garlic. Add reserved liquid and process until the consistency is creamy enough for you; make sure you blend it well so it gets nice and creamy. Chill and serve with pita chips, carrot sticks, or a spoon.
makes me happy too. And one of the reasons I needed a food processor was because I tried to make hummus in the blender. ha.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes me mad about choosing beans is that they could ALL be grown around here, but they're not. I've talked to some farmers about this and it's so complicated. Makes me wish I didn't live in the city so I could rectify the problem. What could be better than local, organic dried beans??