White Bean Hummus

Up until a few weeks ago, I had always bought hummus pre-made from the store. No longer! The first recipe I tried was for Sweet Potato Hummus; it was delicious. I'll post about it soon, but after all these trips home I'm pretty behind on recipes I want to keep. Hummus is so easy, relatively cheap, and full of fiber and good fats. Since I'm apparently the only one in my family who will eat it, I've realized that it lasts quite a long time, and I don't get tired of eating it! This hummus recipe uses white beans instead of the normal garbanzos, which was a convenient pick since I had white beans already cooked and thawed from the freezer ready in my refrigerator. Feel free to use canned beans, just make sure you rinse them off well. You can pick up the taste of the cumin (one of my favorites) and the tahini, however, it was a little on the bland side so I'm adjusting the recipe below to how I will make it the next time.

One of the things I love about Hummus is that as long as you eye-ball it you can't mess it up too much. For example, I totally misread this recipe and used less beans than I was supposed to. By the time I figured that out, I had already poured 1/2 C of tahini in the food processor and it was too late to turn back. So I didn't add very much extra-virgin olive oil, and it still turned out fine. Would I follow the recipe next time? Probably. But here's the recipe I believe I would follow, which is slightly different than what I found on both foodnetwork.com and the faux Martha.  

White Bean Hummus


About 1.5 C white cannellini beans (or 15 oz can)
1 lemon, juiced
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 garlic cloves
1/4 C tahini paste (you can find it in the international food section)
1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes

1. Rinse and drain the beans. If you're using dried, you want to have them soaked, cooked, and at least chilled to room temperature.
2. Add all ingredients other than the olive oil to a food processor. Turn the processor on and slowly add olive oil until it reaches your  desired consistency.
3. Cover and refrigerate. When serving, sprinkle with additional olive oil and spices. Serve with pita chips, naan, or veggies!