Hello, my name is Jhames

I guess the point of VeganMoFo is to post a recipe every day, but honestly who is reading blogs over the weekend? My site traffic always drops on weekends so it’s safe for me to assume you’re here reading my blog when you should be working. For shame! But seriously, thanks, I’m honored to be your distraction. Your one and only distraction.

You’ll be wanting something good to accompany the pita bread recipe I gave you Friday. For me, nothing beats a plate of hummus with fresh warm pita bread. Hummus is the ideal vegan dish: economical ingredients, easy to prepare, and versatile with additions like roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes, or kalamata olives. I’m just as happy eating plain ol’ hummus with carrot sticks or cucumber slices.

Most hummus recipes will tell you to add a little water to thin the mixture but I like thick paste (and I cannot lie!). If you want a little somethin’-somethin’ on your hummus, drizzle a bit of quality olive oil then add a sprinkle of sumac. Sumac is a spice cultivated from the fruits of sumac plants, ground into a violet-red color that lends a tangy flavor to food. You can find sumac in spice shops and halal markets.

Ingredients

• 2 15 oz cans cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup tahini (ground sesame paste)
• 1 tsp salt

Directions

1. In your processor, add one can of the chickpeas along with the garlic cloves and olive oil.
2. Blend the ingredients until you can no longer see whole chickpeas in the paste.
3. Add the second can of chickpeas, lemon juice, salt and tahini.
4. Blend well. Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.
5. Chill for an hour for the flavors to come together—this isn’t necessary, you can simply eat the hummus straight from the food processor bowl.

Tips

• Use toasted sesame seeds if you do not have tahini readily available: add 2 Tbsp (minimum) sesame seeds in your food processor, along with the garlic cloves and olive oil. Blend the ingredients until you have a coarse paste. Be patient as the sesame seeds will take a while to break apart in the food processor. You can also use a spice grinder but I don’t like more dishes than necessary whilst cooking.
• Add 1/4 cup of roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes or kalamata olives to the hummus if you’d like to enhance the flavor profile.

Chilled hummus makes a great spread on bagels or in a sammich with tomato, lettuce and slices of field roast.