Quickie Recipe 1 - Easy Hummus

From time to time, I will interject and just add a little "quickie" recipe that uses pantry ingredients but might not be an entire meal per se. I have several of these recipes in my arsenal that I go to on a moment's notice when I have unexpected guests, need a quick snack or want to make something simple and delicious to take to a friend's house for a party.

The other night I was on the phone with my friend Caroline and we were talking about being hungry and she mentioned that she was going to eat some hummus that she had and I got excited because I realized that I had a can of chick peas (or garbanzo beans)in my
pantry. So in a few short minutes I whipped up not one but two different styles of hummus for my snacking pleasure.

Here are the very few ingredients that I use when making my hummus:



I do this all in a food processor which makes preparation a snap! So start by peeling your garlic (one or two cloves depending on how strong you like it) and add it to the food processor fitted with the "S" blade (or multi-purpose blade). Pulse a few times to chop the garlic a bit.

Drain your chick peas reserving some of the liquid in case you need to add it back later. Add the chick peas, tahini, lemon juice & lemon zest to the bowl. Pulse until
you reach a lovely, creamy consistency. Now is when you would add a little of the liquid back in if need be to thin the mixture out. Add salt & pepper to taste.



Now I was getting a little creative when I was thinking about making the hummus wondering what it would be like with a bit of masaman curry paste that I still had. Its got the right flavor profile as far as I'm concerned so I left 1/2 of the finished hummus in the food processor and added 2 TBSP of the paste and blended well. Wow! I was so pleasantly surprised. I haven't seen this flavor elsewhere, but will definitely be making it in the future. It added a lovely earthy, slightly piquant, tangy, aromatic flavor that was amazing.



So give that one a try if you like. Here is the recipe card for this "quickie".



Cheers!
xo diane
contact: thepantrychallenge[at]gmail[dot]com