Hummus with a bit of a bite...

Yesterday as I was writing up my long story about how to use what was on hand I had a number of different types of beans cooking. The black turtle beans were to be used for dinner this evening, but the chick peas and white navy beans were going to experience a different fate.

They were both going under the rapidly spinning blades of my food processor, together with three cloves of garlic, some cold pressed virgin olive oil, and a few red hot chili peppers. Two to be exact!

And while I know all the hummus aficionado’s will lambaste me for not including tahini, I believe in using what is on hand and not running around the face of the planet to satisfy tradition. We have to remember that not everyone has the budget or access to certain products.

I had cooked up all my pulses yesterday so this morning when I got up I really wanted to get those things into a more spreadable form. While I have read people who go t the trouble to take the husks off of all these legumes using all kinds of methods, from high pressure water, to giving them all a good going over in a bath of water in order to get really smooth hummus, that is a complete waste of time, and possibly are removal of a good portion of dietary fibre we should be consuming.

The main goods...

Primarily I cooked up a cup of dry chick peas and as a cup of white navy beans the other day. I put them in separate bowls and the following morning I figured that they would complement one another in two different ways.

Take a look at this data that the World's Healthiest Foods has compiled:

Food source – 1 cup or 164 grams	Nutrient and % DV	Nutrient and % DV	Nutrient and % DV	Nutrient and % DV	Nutrient and % DV
Chick peas Aka Garbonzo beans	Molybdenum 164%	Manganese 84.5%	Folate 70.5%	Fibre 49.8%	Tryptophan 43.7
White Navy beans	Fibre 76.4%	Folate 63.7%	Tryptophan 56.2%	Manganese 48%	Protein 29.9%

Though if you want to see just what else these two different types of beans pack, take a look for yourselves on the two different prime ingredients of my version of hummus. Over the last number of years we have been hearing a great deal about the importance of dietary fibre, so in putting together a hummus that you can use as a dip or spread on your toast in the morning you will be contributing in a positive way to your well being. Oh and yes, some other hummus aficionado will want to slaughter me for using garbanzo beans as opposed to real chick peas – apparently there is a difference, but I am certain they could never tell the difference in a finished product.

The bite...

While so many talk about the smooth texture of hummus, that is fine; though, somewhere along the line you may want to be going over the edge and and give your hummus a bit of a bite.

My way to do this was to to add nearly double the usual amount of garlic about two cloves to the pound of beans, as I never like hummus to simply taste like garlic. I can eat that raw without a problem. Though I did add two dried red hot chili peppers to the mix, to make sure it had a good bite. In this case the two different types of cooked beans come to close to two pounds, and thus I used four cloves of garlic.

While some people have some chopped parsley with their hummus I decided to do something different. Yes, you know you want to see a picture of this, but it won't happen right away, because of some technical problems I have been having lately with my phone... But I often throw things like steamed Red Swiss Chard and beet greens into dishes sometimes having interesting results as well as nutritive benefits. With what I have left in my garden at this time of year and with frosts just around the corner I will be using these for a soup in the next day or two, so none of that in today's hummus.

Under the blades

So what is it that we have here that is going under the blades to be turned into a puree of sorts? As I mentioned earlier, I will be listing long cook ingredients first. The were for the record:

Long cook ingredients

Garbanzo beans or chick peas – one cup dry

White Navy beans – one cup

As I mentioned the softness of beans will be attributed to the length of time that they cook, so take your time cooking those two types of beans. You can do them in tandem in two separate pots, or one at a time. They both have different cooking times, to soften them up, but it is all up to you. Don't be afraid to be in the kitchen and start learning about how the foods you prepare for yourself cook – time, temperature and the effect both of those have on the produce you are preparing to feed yourselves!

Once these are cooked and nice and soft, they will all fall victim to the blades of your food processor, together with the other ingredients that are not cooked at all.

Virgin olive oil (cold pressed) two table spoons

Garlic – four cloves

Dried Red Hot Chile Peppers – two whole de-stemmed

Lemon juice – one freshly squeezed

Execution

I eye ball about two table spoons into my food processor, then I drop both the garlic and the red hot chili peppers into the food processor while pulsing it. My desire is to get those two ingredients with a bit of a bite mixed in well with the oil. In turn I slowly alternatively add both type of beans trying to ensure that they become a paste. This was the first time using this particular food processor with this volume of beans, and there were a few times that I had to take the top of and push some of the surviving beans down closer to the centrifugal forces of the rapidly spinning blades. Ensuring they were torn asunder and that they became part of what we call hummus.

It was during these moments of removing the top that I would drip in some of my lemon juice, adding a bit more fluid to the mixture and lending it some viscosity. Within about ten to fifteen minutes my hummus was ready. It was time to clean up and enjoy the fruits of my labour.