Creamy Hummus heaven
Mel's Staples: The must-haves in your pantry & fridge Part 2
Dear reader of this delicious Blog,
have you eaten something worth remembering this week? Anything that you might consider making at home, too?
I often do that, when visiting a new restaurant or cafe. I take photos of their menu for some inspiration, what ingredients to combine, ideas for new home made creations.
Although I’m a big fan of new recipes and creations for my daily meals, I love to remake certain dishes over and over again. One of them is Hummus.
I like to add it to Middle Eastern dishes, to Salad or Poke Bowls. I love it as a spread or dip for fresh bread or Veggies cut into bite sized pieces for dipping.
If, you’ve ever tasted fresh home made Hummus, you’d never ever go back to store bought one. Trust me!
And, it’s easy to make, too! If you have the proper staples in your pantry and fridge!
Tadaaa! We are back in the staples game!
How was my intro? Did I do well?
Do you remember the first 4 must-have-staples I introduced you to a couple weeks ago?
Olive oil
Honey
Mustard
Apple Cider Vinegar.
Guess what, for this week’s recipe, you need two of those again!
I told you, this Blog will provide recipes that you’re actually gonna make, because you’ll have all the ingredients at home!
Introducing more Must-Have-Staples
For this week’s staples, I’d like to add a couple new ones for your Must Have list.
Tahini
Chickpeas or garbanzo beans
Garlic.
Adding those three to your staples list, will not only enable you to make Hummus. They’re great for other amazing dishes, you’ll be making in the future, too. I’ll explain why below.
Tahini
Basically Tahini is finely ground sesame seeds, if you buy 100% Tahini, and has a similar texture as peanut butter or any other 100% nut butter. Sometimes they add a little extra oil or some salt, but nothing else. The organic Tahini you get to buy all should be 100% ground sesame.
Tahini is great for the Turkish or any other Middle Eastern cuisine, such as Lebanese. I not only use it for making Hummus, I also add it to another one of my favorite Dressings or to sauces and dips.
Tahini is very versatile, but comes with a certain taste. You wouldn’t wanna add it to your Italian or Japanese dish really.
Chickpeas or garbanzo beans
As a Veggie that loves to eat and make vegan dishes, too, I need to get my protein from beans, peas, legumes and lentils.
One of my go-tos here are chickpeas or garbanzo beans. Nowadays you can get them anywhere, every grocery store should have them in stock. Please, if you can, opt for organic, no matter, if dried or precooked and canned.
Same as with Tahini, I’m not only using them for making Hummus. Chickpeas are a big part of many of my vegan dishes, e.g. Indian curries, Salad Bowls and Soups. You can mash them and make an easy spread for a sandwich or patties for a Veggie burger or - very classic - Falafel.
Garlic
Whenever I have a kitchen and a proper pantry, I always have fresh garlic at home. It’s literally part of every warm dish that I make. Be it Lasagne, an Indian Curry, Italian Risotto or Chili sin carne. Garlic adds a certain twist and flavor to a dish.
If you’re not a big fan of garlic, you can try working with garlic powder. The Indian Cuisine works a lot with garlic powder, also onion powder, especially for making patties or anything with a doughy texture.
If you buy fresh organic garlic, make sure to not stock up on too much. They do go bad, if stored for too long and not under proper (dark, dry, cool) condition. Garlic doesn’t go into the fridge, but I’ve seen people do it. So try what works best for you.
My thoughts on Spices
Although I won’t integrate any specific spices into my must-have or any other list in this series. I do would like to mention some insights that I gained over the years.
Some people, even Foodies and Chefs are a big fan of the less spices the better. Although I’d agree with that, especially, if you’r using organic and fresh, maybe even homegrown, produce, not much else is needed really. Because it already tastes amazing.
Some produce and ingredients however are simply screaming for some spicing because they taste so bland, like most commodity food you get in a mainstream grocery store or discounter.
As for my cooking and baking, I’m a big fan of cuisines from different countries and hence their spices, too. Indian, Middle Eastern, Japanese or Chinese and Asian in general.
Because of my personal preferences I’d always have a well sorted mix of spices that can be added to dishes coming from those cuisines at home.
What I would like to do in this series - Mel’s Staples - I’d like to introduce, little by little, more spices to you and maybe to be added to your personal pantry as well. Depending on your personal preferences and likings that is.
In the case of this Hummus recipe below, you can decide, wether you’d like to actually add some hot spices, either Thai Hots or even Chili, or not at all.
What I’d suggest using, though, is Cumin. Cumin is not only great for Hummus, since it has this typical flavor you know from Hummus. But it’s part of the Indian as well as the Middle Eastern cuisine, too. So, if you’re a fan of country cuisines like me, get some Cumin.
The creamiest of Hummus’ you’ll ever taste
Makes 1 batch of Hummus, approx. 3 pint jars.
For this recipe you need a food processor or blender. It might also work with a stick blender, but I would’n recommend it.
What you need:
4 cups cooked chickpeas/garbanzo beans (if you wanna skip the cooking, buy canned chickpeas)
approx 1 cup of Tahini
approx 1 cup of Aquafaba (chickpea water, from cooking the chickpeas or the can)
6 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
3 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)
1 ½ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp ground cumin
¼ to ½ tsp Thai Hots or Chili
Blend everything in a Food Processor until smooth. Divide into mason jars for storing in your fridge. Leave some room space (for expanding) on the top, if you wanna freeze them.
To this recipe you can add rehydrated cherry tomatoes or roasted beets or carrots. Add those while blending. I wouldn’t add any fresh vegetables, they just don’t blend well enough.
