A flavorful way to turn chickpeas into a killer chip dip.
Hummus. The one dip that you buy in the store and it tastes amazing, but when you try to replicate it at home, you get a bowl of sad, dull, mashed chickpeas. The reason for this? Not exactly clear. I do suspect it's because I didn't put that much thought into it while making it. I knew that hummus was made from chickpeas. So I could just make my own "hummus" by mashing up a bunch of them in a blender, right? Wrong. I added boiled chickpeas, a bit of garlic, and some sesame seeds to a food processor and blended it until creamy and smooth. It looked like hummus, sure. But it tasted like- well, soggy chickpeas. Because that's basically what it was. So this time around, after doing some research, I've come up with this recipe for all of you to avoid the same pitfalls.
When I make things at home like hummus, or pancakes, anything that's "normal" food, I will almost ALWAYS try to spice it up with some exotic flavor or color. Which is definitely the case with this. Of course, you can make this into a regular hummus if you don't have these ingredients, but I just love experimenting with flavors, and both tomatoes and basil grow in our backyard. Feel free to keep it plain or put your own twist on it!
Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil Hummus
Course: Side
Author: Prachi Marfatia
Serves:
Ingredients:
5 tbsp dry chickpeas(about 1 cup cooked)
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes(I will describe how to make them below), optional
4 tbsp fresh or dried basil,optional
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 cup water
2 tsp neutral oil(I used olive)
2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
Directions:
The morning you make this, take some tomatoes and thinly slice them. Lay them out on a baking tray lined with parchment and cover them with a large sieve/net under the sun. Then wait for about 4 hours. After that, if you want you can pop them in a 300° F oven for about 10 minutes or leave out for a couple more hours. They should look kind of dry and wrinkly.
If using dry chickpeas, add about 1 1/2 cups water and cook/boil until fully cooked.
In a pan, dry-roast the sesame seeds(this means without oil) for 5-10 minutes on medium flame, until fragrant and slightly browned. Add the sesame seeds to a blender/food processor and blend on low-medium speed for 1 minute. Add 1 tsp oil, and repeat. Then add another tsp oil, and repeat again. You should get some oil/stickiness coming out of the seeds now. It is probably still mostly dry and crumbly, but that's fine. Add in the (drained) chickpeas, water, and salt, then blend for 4 minutes, scraping down the sides in the middle. Continue processing for about 2-3 more minutes, until it forms a smooth paste. Then add in half of the sun-dried tomato. Transfer to a bowl. Then add in the remaining tomato, basil flakes, and more salt to taste. Now it's ready to enjoy over toast, crackers, or whatever you please!