Have you ever started making hummus, went to your cupboard and found that you used all the tahini the last time you made hummus? That happened to me when making this recipe. I was perplexed because I really wanted to make the recipe as is. I have made numerous white bean hummus recipes before sans tahini, but I wanted an authentic white bean hummus. Authentic=made with tahini. Duh.
So I had the brilliant idea of adding sesame seeds and a bit more olive oil to the dish to create the tahini, or tahini taste even, within the hummus. Unfortunately my brand new Kitchen-aid food processor appears to not be all that high-powered. When I turned it on high, it whirled the ingredients around but did not pulverize the sesame seeds. I wasn’t even sure it pureed the beans, to be honest, which was a huuuuge disappointment. My main use for a food processor is to make hummus.
So to reiterate, in my brand new, never before been used food processor I had a mixture of chunky beens and sesame seeds that kept whirling around slowly within the bowl of the processor. At this point it was an official cooking disaster.
As a Hail Mary, I got out my trusty Vitamix blender and began blending. It took a minute to figure out how to get the blade to move the mixture was so thick, but eventually I got it going by adding some liquid from the bean pot and then an ice cube and then some cool water and sure enough, the powerful blender pulverized the sesame seeds (and the remaining chunks of beans) and produced a smooth hummus. Granted I almost burnt out my motor while doing so, but I stopped blending in time to achieve a smooth hummus without my motor breaking.
So now that I shared with you a fun little secret, if you ever run out of tahini mid hummus making, you can add some sesame seeds to the mixture as long as you have a nice powerful blender or food processor.
Dad proclaimed this recipe as the best hummus I’ve ever made (and I’ve made a lot of hummus). He asked me how I burnt a lemon, and I explained that I roasted it in the oven and then he asked me what happened to the other half of the lemon and I told him I squeezed the juice into the hummus.
The ingredients listed below are a starting point as I earlier stated that I had to use some of the water from the bean pot, an ice cube and some cool water to get a smooth consistency after I added the sesame seeds. I find whenever I make hummus I don’t really measure anyway. I will add more tahini or olive oil or lemon or garlic or water or ice to get the desired consistency and I would recommend you do the same.
This recipe is gently adapted from a recipe I found at Simply Scratch, a blog dedicated to recipes I made from scratch using fresh and homemade ingredients. It’s my kind of blog! Check it out when you get a moment.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 lemons
- 1 ½ c. dry cannellini beans
- 2 T. tahini
- 2 T. extra-virgin olive oil
- ¼ tsp. cumin
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 T. minced fresh parsley, for serving
- olive oil, for serving
directions.
- The night before you plan to make the hummus, give dried beans a quick rinse with cool water and then remove any bits of rock hidden in with the beans or weird looking beans. Put the beans in a large bowl and cover with plenty of cool water overnight.
- The next day, drain and rinse beans. Use enough water in your pot to cover beans by about an inch. Bring beans to a boil over high heat. Once you’ve brought the pot to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer and cook gently until the beans are as tender as you like them. This can take anywhere from 30 minutes for smaller, fresher beans, to two hours for larger and/or older ones. Start checking after 30 minutes and check approximately every 30 minutes. When the beans are bite-able but not yet tender, add some salt to the pot. When beans are tender, remove from heat and drain.
- Meanwhile preheat your oven to 450°. Halve the lemons and trim off the ends so they will lay flat in an oven-safe dish. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes then remove and let cool.
- In the bowl of your food processor, fitted with the blade, add the beans, tahini, garlic, cumin, salt, olive oil and juice from 3 of the 4 roasted lemon halves. Secure the lid and process until smooth. Taste and check for seasoning.
- Serve as is or make it fancy by adding a drizzle of olive oil, fresh chopped parsley, a squeeze of roasted lemon juice and/or half of a roasted lemon.
Recipe rating:
Food Snob 