Kitchen Sink Hummus

(This is a duplicate to my post on my own blog; Lisa asked that I share it with all of you.  Enjoy!)

I’ve been desperate to make hummus in my new food processor since the moment I arrived home with it.  I’ve had two recipes (both raw, vegan and gluten free) that I’ve tried previously, but discovered that making hummus in my mothers’ 1970-whatever blender is a bad idea… it makes sad noises, takes forever and the resulting hummus comes out a bit on the warm side because the blender was working so hard.  (If I bust that blender I have to buy a new one so I can make smoothies… and I guarantee I’ll find a way to justify the purchase of the Vita-Mix I want so badly.)

I remembered to pick up garbanzo beans the other day when I was at Wegmans, which was the only ingredient I didn’t have on hand.  So… I set out to see what I could do.  I took the ingredients I wanted from both recipes and threw it all in the pot.

The first round of processing produced something pretty thick and chunky.  I added more oil and gave it another whirl.  In went the artichokes, along with oil they were marinating in, and blended again.  This produced a creamier hummus, more what I was looking for.  I tasted it and was excited; I had done a good job!

I figured it was done, so I began putting things away in the fridge.  Then I saw it… a jar of sun-dried tomatoes… how had I not thought of those?  I chucked some into the processor, along with a touch of oil from the jar (come on, you didn’t think I’d resist that, did you?  That’s where the extra flavor and nutrients are!)  Pulse, pulse, and we’re done.  OMG best hummus ever.  I’ve now taken this and shared it at work (twice!) and to a friends house- resounding approval upped my confidence to post this.

My advice- put everything into the food processor except the artichokes and tomatoes.  Mix everything well first, then throw them in with more oil if needed and pulse a couple times just to chunk them up- this way you have a creamy hummus but noticeable bits of artichokes and tomatoes.  End result: Kitchen Sink Hummus!

Kitchen Sink Hummus

1 15oz. can garbanzo beans

2 Tbsp. tahini (sesame seed) butter

4 Tbsp. hemp seeds

4 Tbsp. flax seed oil (or olive oil, or canola oil… I’ve seen all sorts in recipes.  You could probably even use sesame oil.)

Juice from 1 medium lemon

2 large garlic cloves, minced (or more!)

4-5 small scallions, sliced (some of the green is a-ok)

1/4 c. artichokes (I used the marinated Wegmans brand, in oil)

1/4 c. sun-dried tomatoes (again, I used ones packed in oil, but you could go for the dry-packaged version alternatively)

fresh ground pepper and sea salt to taste.

Other notes: Oil is really a big component of this- if it seems too thick, keep adding small amounts of oil until you get a good consistency.  I’ve been using flax oil in these recipes because I bought a bottle of it when I started trying raw recipes… but once this bottle is gone, I will probably stick with just olive oil.  Flax oil has lots of health benefits, but seriously that s#!t is just too expensive for me right now; it also needs to be refrigerated or it will go rancid.  You could also skip the hemp seeds- they aren’t available at Wegmans (Lori’s Natural Foods in Henrietta is the only place I know in Rochester to find them), but you need to know that they are freakin’ delicious in salads too- I’d say they’re worth keepin’ on hand in your pantry (or fridge).  Consider adding roasted red peppers, eggplant, parsley- whatever you like in your hummus.  This makes close to 3 cups and should keep in the fridge for about a week… if you don’t eat it all right away.

If you make it and add your own ingredients, please comment and share!  (Or if you have other hummus recipes for me to try or comments on how to improve this one I’d definitely like to hear!)