Berbere Spiced Hummus

After discovering a plethora of Ethiopian foods and spices at a little store 2 blocks away from us we decided to try a few new items.  I immediately grabbed the berbere, which I knew from eating the berbere beef from my favorite food truck.  We ended up with a sizable tub of it and it's become a spice that we use with a lot of foods.  Berbere is a spice blend and it's similar to a chili powder but along with the spicy chiles it could have paprika, garlic, ginger, cardamom, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, or more, all combined into one delicious red powder.  The version we got also has some nice heat.  I thought it would be a good addition to the hummus I was making for our superbowl party, and I was correct in my prediction.  It was also a great opportunity to try out a new hummus tip I had read about- peeling the chick peas.  There's an easily removable skin that pops right off of the chick pea if you squeeze it between your fingers.

We'd never been able to make a really smooth hummus and supposedly peeling the chick peas does the trick.  

I tried it out and we definitely noticed a big difference.  Our guests loved the final product!  And so did we.

Ingredients:

• 1 can chick peas (garbanzo beans)
• 2 teaspoons berbere spice (or more, to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1/2 cup olive oil (or more... we didn't measure it)

Directions:

In a food processor, combine the chick peas, berbere, pepper, lemon juice, garlic, tahini, and 1/4 cup olive oil.  Pulse until well combined.  

homemade tahini

The mixture should be a bit dry.  Slowly add more olive oil until it smooths out to your desired consistency.  We didn't measure as we were doing this, but it seemed to be a lot.  Taste for more salt. Our berbere spice was slightly salty so I didn't need as much as I would usually use.  Serve with more berbere sprinkled on top and a drizzle of olive oil.  As always, homemade pita chips were the perfect pair to eat this delicious hummus!  The berbere spice was a nice change to your regular hummus recipe.  Double or triple the recipe for a larger crowd.  This amount is good as an appetizer for about 6 people.

Hummus

Hummus is really easy to make from scratch and it's great as a healthy snack or appetizer.  This is a basic recipe, to which you could add ingredients if you want to give it a different flavor (like roasted red peppers).  It is delicious on it's own too.  We made this batch for a new year's party, with some homemade pita chips.  See how to make the chips in our spinach-artichoke dip recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cans of garbanzo beans

1/3 cup tahini

juice of one lemon

3 cloves garlic roughly chopped

olive oil (approximately 1/4 cup)

1 t salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 pinches of paprika (garnish)

1 t fresh chopped parsley (garnish)

Directions:

Combine garbanzo beans, garlic, lemon juice, and tahini in a large food processor.  (Split into two batches if you only have a small one)  Pulse for 5 seconds, scrape down the sides and pulse for an additional 5 seconds.  

Begin pouring in oil as you continue to blend the mixture.  It should be pretty thick, but thin enough that you can still dip into it with a chip.  Add salt and pepper and give it a final blend.  Taste to see if you need to add more.  Put the hummus in a bowl or dish for serving.  Top with paprika, parsley, and an additional drizzle of olive oil before serving.