Healthy Homemade Hummus (White Bean or Chickpea)

A story of Sara's Hummus-making journey....

Hummus is something we buy every week and eat a lot of. All of the store-bought versions have oil and tahini so of course this is something I've been wanting to create at home :)  I have been looking for a healthy hummus recipe since I got my food processor last summer!  I tried a few recipes and was never quite thrilled with how it turned out...   so we kept buying it and trying different brands.

Whole Foods is my favorite (spinach hummus or the baba ghanoush) because it's low calorie and has this delicious tanginess.  I was reading the label and noticed that there is citric acid in their version.  So I started reading about citric acid in hummus and found out that it's common to use this in true Mediterranean versions.  It gives the hummus the tanginess without making it too liquidy from adding too much lemon juice.  I found some in the ethnic aisle at the grocery store and was really excited to try it!  So I found this recipe online which I really liked (I was intrigued by the Bragg in it).  I decided to add citric acid to it and give it another try.

The last twist in my hummus-making story is that Ed made about 10 pounds of white beans, probably not realizing how dry beans appear to be a much smaller amount than the cooked version :)  There was so way we could eat all these beans before they would go bad.  So I decided to try the recipe with white beans instead of chickpeas.

Voila!  I LOVED this recipe :)  The white beans were a smoother consistency than chickpeas, which is perfect when not using oil , which would normally give hummus it's creaminess.  The citric acid gave it the tanginess I love and the Bragg Liquid was a little flavor kick as well.

FINALLY a successful healthy hummus.  Can you tell I'm thrilled?   I can now produce this stuff in huge batches, saving lots of calories and $$.  It's a good day :)

We ate this batch with Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad... it was quite the feast!

Ingredients

• 2 cans  white beans or chick peas, rinsed and drained (4 cups cooked beans*)
• 3 cloves garlic
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp citric acid
• 2 teaspoons Bragg Liquid Aminos
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth (or water)

 * When soaking dry beans, try adding a little baking soda (about 1/2 tsp for every two cups of dried beans).  It will soften the beans and shorten the cooking time.

 

Instructions

 Heat up the beans a bit first,  then using food processor, blend all ingredients into a thick paste.

 

 

Variations

  Customize by adding one or more of the following:

 

• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 1 fresh jalapeno, seeded and chopped
• 1 roasted and chopped red bell pepper
• 1 cup dark or Kalamata olives
• 1 bunch fresh mint
• 1 cup fresh spinach
• 1 cup cooked eggplant
• lime juice (instead of lemon juice) and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper