Well, I’ve used it in my hummus. Tasted great!
I’ve used the dried chick peas too, it’s a little more work than buying a can but it can be used just fine.
People also season hummus with parsley and ground roasted cumin/coriander seeds.
Garbanzo beans (chick peas) are also available canned at RTMart, so you don’t have to boil them for as long.
Sababahas hummus to go (and pita):
I have recently started cooking a lot more than I ever have in my life and am loving it.
I have been eating a LOT healthier than in the past few years.
I made my first batch of hummus last week and was pleasantly suprised with the results.
[i]2 cups canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), liquid reserved
2/3 cup tahini paste*
5 tablespoons olive oil , divided
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon paprika
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
*You can make your own tahini paste in a food processor
or blender by grinding toasted sesame seeds.
Toast the sesame seeds over medium heat until golden brown,
about 3 minutes.
In a food processor, puree the chickpeas, tahini, 3 tablespoons olive oil,
lemon juice and garlic until smooth, adding a little of the reserved
liquid if the mixture seems too thick; it will be slightly grainy.
Season with salt and pepper.
Transfer to a shallow bowl or plate.
Combine the paprika and the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, drizzle the mixture
over the top, and garnish with chopped parsley, if desired.
Serve with pita bread triangles. Makes about 3 cups.[/i]
I couldn’t find pita bread down here in Jiayi so I used baguette instead.
I also tried the same recipe again but this time added canned sweet red peppers and it turned out wonderfully.
For those of you who aren’t sure about Tahini, it is sesame paste. Easy to find. I found it a Carrefour but there was no English on the jar.
Shi1 Ma3 Jiang4 (feel free to correct my tones cause they very well might be incorrect)
Hummus is a gift from the gods IMHO. Good source of protein and fibre. Tastes amazing as well. Takes only a few minutes to prepare.
Share your hummus recipes if you have any interesting ideas.
Hi! Glad to hear that another person is doing alot of cooking while living here. I cook partly due
to health considerations concerning too much salt, sugar, etc. in the diet, and partly because I
love to experiment with different ingredients and recipes.
Here is a different take on hummus. Feel free to experiment with it and let me know what you
think:
Orange Hummus
3-4 cups cooked chickpeas 3 scallions (green onions), finely minced
1/2 cup orange juice
2 T - 1/3 cup homemade tahini
3 medium garlic cloves, crushed
(1 T minced onion, optional)
(1 1/2 tsp. salt, optional)
1/2 - 1 tsp. EACH ground cumin/corinander/ginger/paprika
1/4 - 1/2 tsp EACH dry mustard and turmeric
- Process all but the scallions in a food processor or blender until smooth.
NOTE: You may have to add a little more orange juice (depending on the texture). - Transfer hummus to a bowl. Stir in scallions.
- Put in the fridge to chill, so that the flavors can blend.
- Tastes great stuffed in pita bread/bagels/flour tortillas with some cucumber slices on top.
Hope this one works for you.
www.vegWeb.com Recipe section, 2nd recipe for hummus is also special. Others are fairly
typical. The second one could be changed a bit. I substitute baked eggplant for the chickpeas
and add some grated carrots to the concoction. Each time I make it, I throw in different things
just to experiment.
www.vegcooking.com is the website whose second Hummus recipe is interesting.
The other one, www.vegWeb.com , also has interesting ideas from time to time.
I made this and it was absolutely delicious. Easy, too.
Hummus with tahini
INGREDIENTS:
1 16-oz can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1/4 cup liquid from can of chickpeas
3-5 tablespoons lemon juice (depending on taste)
1-1/2 tablespoons tahini (make by toasting sesame seeds then pureeing with olive oil in a blender; or use commercial sesame paste, widely available locally as zhi1ma2jiang)
2 cloves garlic, crushed (optionally double or triple this, and optionally toast it first or sauté it in the olive oil)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
PREPARATION:
Drain chickpeas and set aside part of liquid from can. Combine remaining ingredients in blender or food processor. Add 1/4 cup of liquid from chickpeas. Blend for 3-5 minutes on low until thoroughly mixed and smooth. Be sure to taste it, and add salt and lemon juice as needed. If hummus is too thick, simply add either more liquid and/or olive oil in small increments until you get the desired consistency.
Place in serving bowl, and create a shallow well in the center of the hummus.
Add a small amount (1-2 tablespoons) of olive oil in the well. Garnish with parsley (optional). Or if you prefer, just blend the olive oil in when mixing in the blender.
Serve immediately with fresh, warm or toasted pita bread, or cover and refrigerate.
It freezes well, too.
Thanks for the great recipe, dragonbones.
Do you just let it thaw out in the fridge after you’ve had it in the freezer (when you want to serve it again)?
Just curious how you serve it after it has been frozen. Thanks.
Yeah, I just thaw it in the fridge. For presentation it might need stirring and a garnish, but other than that it’s fine. Just try it and you’ll see what I mean. In general, sauces and pastes freeze well. Pesto is an example, as are tomato sauces.
The zhimajiang you can buy in supermarkets is darker than what you really want. You can really taste the difference. It’s unhulled or something. For a better result get the lighter (but more expensive) tahini you can buy at most organic stores.
Also if you want to save money on the cans of chick peas, you can buy the seeds. You then need to boil them and soak them overnight, but if youre making a lot of hummus it saves a lot of money.
Brian
I wonder whether it’s toasted until darker, rather than just unhulled. I’m just guessing that you’ll get both darkness and a change in flavor through toasting.
For my tastebuds, it’s still a very pleasant flavor, but I’m not a purist for hummus.
Thanks for the info about freezing humus to serve later, dragonbones.
One more question, if you don’t mind. I noticed that your recipe calls for cumin.
This is powdered cumin, right? Not the seeds themselves?
Also, where did you get powdered cumin? (I know the inevitable answer will be Jason’s 101 or Breeze, but I just thought I’d ask anyway).
Thanks.
[quote=“fee”]This is powdered cumin, right? Not the seeds themselves?
Also, where did you get powdered cumin?[/quote]
I bought a very small coffee and spices grinder like this: cookingforengineers.com/article.php?id=85
which I use only for spices. Whenever I need powdered instead of seed cumin, coriander, caraway or whatever, I just pop the seeds in there for 2 seconds. Works well for all kinds of stuff – a must have, unless you prefer a mortar and pestle.
I often find that the seeds keep longer than the powders, and the seeds when freshly ground may be more fragrant. YMMV.
Sometimes I then pass the result through a fine sieve to get rid of husks, if necessary.
You can get cumin seeds in many places around town. I don’t remember where I got mine, but probably Wellman’s in Tianmu, or perhaps that Indian shop just east of Jilong & Zhongxiao.
Thanks, dragonbones.
I do have a small mortar and pestle. I hadn’t thought of using a small coffee grinder for spices and such. Thanks for the tip.
[quote=“Dragonbones”][quote=“fee”]This is powdered cumin, right? Not the seeds themselves?
Also, where did you get powdered cumin?[/quote]
I bought a very small coffee and spices grinder like this: cookingforengineers.com/article.php?id=85
which I use only for spices. Whenever I need powdered instead of seed cumin, coriander, caraway or whatever, I just pop the seeds in there for 2 seconds. Works well for all kinds of stuff – a must have, unless you prefer a mortar and pestle.
I often find that the seeds keep longer than the powders, and the seeds when freshly ground may be more fragrant. YMMV.
Sometimes I then pass the result through a fine sieve to get rid of husks, if necessary.
You can get cumin seeds in many places around town. I don’t remember where I got mine, but probably Wellman’s in Tianmu, or perhaps that Indian shop just east of Jilong & Zhongxiao.[/quote]Just a quick side point about using spices in any uncooked or boiled dishes – the spices taste way better if you roast/toast them lightly them first. They also keep better that way I think. And it also makes them easier to grind, whether with a machine or a pestle and mortar.
I definitely find that to be true for coriander seeds, cumin seeds and sesame. In fact, you can even toast in advance any nuts that you’re going to put into baked goods, and it improves the flavor.
Healthy food lovers,
If you need any of the products you’ve been talking about (yogurt, tahini, hummus, falafel) or fresh pita to eat it all with, it’s all available at wholesale prices.
Sababa sells it all. and we have a new location in Gongguan that just opened.
The new website will be up next week where you can even order it online www.sababapita.com - Please excuse the current site.
Cheers, and have a Sababa day,
Pita Dude
Jason’s used to have some, and there’s dried ‘DIY’ stuff in the new SOGO, anyone know where else I can get it?
i bought it at Jason’s the other day so maybe they were just out of stock when you went. I’m sure the Breeze center has it, or City Super.