Loco Hummus

Hello Interwebs, it's Jeff.  I know I don't post on this website often, but I wanted to share my latest hummus concoction.  I have been making hummus a lot lately, as it is one of my favorite snacks and it is so easy to make.  There are also so many variations that it is fun to experiment with.

It's pretty darn tasty, and here's what you'll need if you want to make it yourself:

Tahini (premade or you can just buy sesame seeds to save $)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Garbanzo Beans
Black Beans
Juice from 1 Lime
1/4 Onion
Jalapenos
1 Garlic clove
Spices

First cook your dried beans.  You can do this ahead of time.  I used about 1/3 cup of each, which yields around a cup of each.

If you need to make the tahini, put a couple-few cups of sesame seeds on a greased/sprayed/oiled sheet in the oven at 350 degrees.  Bake for about 6-8 minutes, stirring often.  Once the sesame seeds have cooled, put them in a food processor and blend them with EVOO until nice and smooth.  Pour out excess tahini in container in the fridge for other tahini needs (I left in around a cup in the processor I think).

Stick in onion, garlic, lime juice, and as many jalapenos as you care for (I did 3 big ones, but they were fairly mild), and blend with the left over tahini.

Next, begin blending in the beans along with more EVOO.  I split this up into two rounds so I could better control the consistency.  The amount of EVOO you use depends on what smoothness you want, and how much oil you can handle.  It would probably be better to use an EVOO from the eastern Mediterranean, but I just used one I had on hand that is blended from California and Italy.

The most important part about making hummus is continually checking the taste as you go and being able to improvise, because the spicing can make or break it.  I add quite a bit of sea salt to begin with, and go from there.  I also added black pepper, chili powder, and cumin.  You could certainly add cayenne pepper and/or hot sauce, but I wanted the jalapeno flavors to come through.  Anyway, voila!

Just remember, always use proper sanitation techniques and don't get any hair in it.