Claire’s post on Tuesday had me pondering on and craving variations of hummus all week. With so many hummus recipes out there, what were its basic components?

I figured traditional hummus breaks down this way:

chickpeas + sesami tahini + olive oil + garlic + lemon juice (+ parsley + red chile flakes)

The general formula being, more or less:

beans + nut puree + oil + onion family member + citrus juice (+ herbs + chile heat)

Last night I didn’t have tahini or lemons on hand. But with the general formula in mind, I searched for alternatives. I had pine nuts in the pantry and limes in the refrigerator. I had a habanero pepper, too, and I thought its fruity flavor and chile heat would go well with the pine nuts and lime.

I was right. This was a delicious take-off on Claire’s traditional hummus. Simmering the garlic for a few minutes (as Claire suggests in her recipe) makes its flavor more subtle.

Here’s the recipe and a few other variations on the formula:

Variations:
Cajun:
red beans + toasted pecans + olive oil + green onions + lemon juice (+parsley + cayenne pepper)

Italian:
cannelini beans + pine nuts + olive oil + garlic + lemon juice (+thyme + red pepper flakes)

Southwest:
black beans + peanuts + corn oil + red onions + lime juice (+cilantro + jalapeno)

Posted by brys in craving, recipes, personal, root source | | Subscribe to this feed