the best hummus- the *BEST* hummus (and quinoa tabbouleh)

Hummus often serves as the "token vegetarian option" on party platters, but the ubiquitous and lackluster bean spread can be disappointing enough to make you forget about how delicious hummus can be!  But there is no need to accept mediocrity. Gilt Taste has cracked the code on the most velvety, sumptuous, and silky hummus!

I usually make my own hummus; store-bought hummus can have preservatives like sodium benzoate, and you never know the quality or amount of oil they put into the hummus. Unfortunately, I have never reached the kind of heavenly smooth hummus achieved by the really good Mediterranean restaurants. I have tried everything from blending the garbanzos with ice cubes to heating the beans before blending them, with very little success. Fortunately, I found this article on Gilt for 'elevated' hummus. I followed all of the instructions exactly (which go against all of my instincts) and it's worth it!

With out further ado, the recipe copied exactly from Gilt Taste:

"1. If you want great hummus, you must use dried chickpeas--the canned ones will never become transcendent. Buy the smallest ones you can find, and plan ahead to soak them overnight.

2. Soak and cook the chickpeas with a little baking soda to make the beans very tender. Baking soda creates an alkaline environment that allows water to penetrate the chickpeas more easily; it make an enormous difference, giving you a hummus that’s as smooth as satin.

3. Remove all the skins from the chickpeas after cooking. This takes a while, but it’s a meditative process that I find enormously pleasurable. Don’t rush it.

4. Cool the chickpeas before you puree them: The starch crystals in the chickpeas break down more easily when they are warm; this is not a good thing, since it will make the puree pasty. Cool your chickpeas, and you’ll have lighter hummus.

5. Use the best tahini you can find. Its flavor will dominate the hummus, so if you’re using one that is bitter (like the most commonly available commercial kind), your hummus will suffer. Taste it before adding it to the puree; it should be slightly sweet and quite nutty, and it doesn’t have to be fancy—I use one I buy at a kind of earthshoe / vegetarian store.

6. Use good garlic - and not too much. The flavor of hummus is so subtle that one bad clove of garlic is a death sentence.

7. Hummus will keep for a couple of days, but like many things, it is at its peak the moment it is made. (The great hummus places in the Middle East all make theirs daily.) Rush your hummus to the table as soon as you have made it.

8. Serve your hummus with good pita and an array of condiments, allowing your guests to tailor their hummus to their own tastes.

Hummus

1½ cups dried chickpeas
1 tablespoon baking soda plus ¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ to ½ cup raw (as opposed to roasted) tahini
1 lemon, juiced
1-2 garlic cloves
salt, to taste
olive oil, to taste
cumin, to taste

1. Put the chickpeas in a colander and go through them carefully, discarding small stones and broken peas.
2. Wash the chickpeas, and put them in a bowl with enough water to allow them to double in volume. Stir in a tablespoon of baking soda and soak them overnight.
3. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and put them in a large pot. Cover with about 5 cups of water (the water should be about 2 inches above the beans) and add the remaining ¼ teaspoon of baking soda. Bring the water to a boil, turn the heat down, cover, and cook over low heat until the chickpeas are very soft; it should take about two hours. If the water cooks away, add more. Drain, but reserve the cooking liquid.
4. Rub the chickpeas between your fingers under cold running water to remove the skins. Put on some music; it’s a time-consuming process.
5. The chickpeas should be cool now. Put them in a food processor with the garlic, and lemon juice, a quarter cup of the cooking liquid and the tahini. (How much you use will depend on your taste; traditionally you’d use about half a cup, but I find that makes the sesame flavor too dominant for my taste.) Process for 4 or 5 minutes, until it is smooth and creamy, with the dreamy texture of just-made frozen custard. It should be very soft and smooth. If it’s too thick add more liquid. Add salt to taste."

BONUS! My proteinaceous tabbouleh 

quinoa tabbouleh

1 c quinoa 

1.5 c water

as many ripe tomatoes as you can find

fistful of cilantro

bunch of green onions

lime juice from 2 limes

salt

Cook the quinoa over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, or until it is tender as you like it. Carefully dice the tomatoes, slice the green onion (break up the rings so you don't get big chunks) and finely chop the cilantro.Gently toss the cooled quinoa with the chopped ingredients and lime juice. Salt to taste.

tempeh bacon sandwich

After 3 weeks, 4 states, and 55 hours of travel, I have finally landed back home. On my drive from New York to Pennsylvania, I stopped by a Trader Joe's and I picked up some tempeh. After a spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to make tempeh shepard's pie, I have been gun-shy about using tempeh for the last few years. But, after having the BLT at Blossom in Chelsea, I was willing to give tempeh another chance. As soon as I got home, I soaked the tempeh in this marinade, and the next day whipped up this sandwich.

tempeh marinade (makes enough for two sandwiches)

1/2 package of tempeh
1/4 c soy sauce or Bragg's
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 shake of BBQ seasoning, spice rub, or a combination of cumin, paprika and cayenne
1 tbsp sesame oil
splash of liquid smoke

Marinate as long as you can stand it. When ready to make the sandwiches, cook the tempeh in a thin sheen of oil until it browns and caramelizes.

sandwich, assemble! (for one sandwich)

2 slices Ezekiel 7 grain bread
4 slices tempeh bacon
butter lettuce
1/4 avocado
vegenaisse
mustard

Smash the avocado into one slice of bread. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread a combination of the mayo and mustard on the other half of the bread. Layer the tempeh and lettuce.

vegetable stir-fry with peanut-molasses sauce

Sugar has been getting a bad rap lately. From being compared to heroin, to being called a poison, we can expect that BigSugar will be launching some PR control soon. I am apathetic about sugar- I think it tastes too sweet, and prefer a pickle over chocolate any day. But cooking is about balance, and often you need a touch of sweet to balance the savory. That is why I put honey in my tahini sauce, and why I was looking for a sweet addition to a stir fry with peanut sauce. I don't buy sugar, but I keep molasses in the house (recipe for BBQ sauce to come!) This stir-fry was pretty run-of-the mill: buckwheat noodles, lots of vegetables, and baked tofu with roasted edamame. You can use any combo of veggies with this, and I bet it would be good over brown rice, too. The ingredient that made this transcend was the molasses in the peanut sauce. I can't wait to make it again.

Vegetable Stir-Fry

1 bundle of buckwheat noodles
3/4 cup of shredded red cabbage
1/4 red onion, chopped
1 carrot, sliced
6 stalks kale, sliced
1/2 c snap peas
1/2 c edamame
1/2 block baked tofu
Soy Sauce

Peanut-Butter Molasses Sauce

1 tbsp peanut butter
1/4 c soy sauce
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 inch of ginger, grated
 1 tbsp molasses

Microwave the peanut butter with the soy sauce and the molasses for 30 seconds. Spoon a few tablespoons of boiling water from the buckwheat noodles (or hot water if you are making rice). Add pressed garlic and grated ginger to the hot mixture, and whisk with a fork. 

blue corn tamales with purple potatoes and smoked mozzarella

I'm not sure why there is the "Young and the Restless" haze on this tamale, but let's go with it.

Some days, it takes everything you've got just to get dinner on the table. On days like that, I almost always churn out some version of a brown rice bowl. Other days, I feel like I can do anything: dominate a TRX yoga class, win DinoRush, or even try a new mermaid braid- MERBRAID. Today, I made tamales!

For these tamales, I used a combination of blue corn meal (higher in protein!) and Maseca. For the filling, I used purple potatoes and smoked mozzarella. These tamales turned out so cute; I served them with my bright green salsa.

Purple Potato Filling

12 purple potatoes, chopped finely
.5 white onion
pinch cumin
pinch coriander
.5 bottle Lost Gold IPA
salt

I sauteed the purple potatoes with onion and spices, and deglazed the pan with my favorite local IPA. You could use water or vegetable broth. Make sure the potatoes are completely cooked.

Blue Cornmeal

2 c blue cornmeal (I bought this in the bulk section of Central Market)
.5 c maseca
1.5 c vegetable broth
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp butter, melted
pinch salt

Mix the two corn meals with baking powder and salt. Whisk in the liquids until frothy.  This batter should be thicker than pancake mix.

 Tamale, Assemble!

Spoon a modest amount of cornmeal mix (about three inches) onto the corn husk, leaving a little well. Line up the purple potatoes, and place a slice of smoked mozzarella (or legit Mexican cheese) on the cornmeal. Roll up the husk, enveloping the filling with the cornmeal as much as possible. Wrap up the husk and tie the husk with strips of broken husk.

There are a few ways to steam the tamale. I have asian dumpling steaming baskets that work very well for tamales... you just stack them up over a pan of steaming water. Arrange the tamales flat in the steaming basket, giving them enough room to slightly expand. Or, you can stand the tamales upright in a steaming basket in a pot (if you have a chicken roaster or vegetable steamer).

Steam the tamales for 40 minutes, or until the meal separates easily from the husk (the cheese might slightly stick to the husk, and that's alright!) Open the tamale up like a little papoose and top with this creamy green sauce.

Creamy Green Sauce

I make this sauce for big parties where I can't afford to avocado everyone up. 'Cause I'm not RICH!

2 avocados
.5 a raw onion, chopped
2 poblano peppers, chopped
4 jalapenos peppers, chopped
juice of 1 lime
handful of cilantro
2 cloves of garlic
salt

Blend up all of the ingredients, adding dribbles of water to loosen the sauce. This simple sauce is so delicious, even homemade tortillas are just a homely vehicle for this liquid gold on it's journey to my mouth.