Spicy Hummus Recipe

A couple days ago a recall was announced for over 50 varieties of Sabra brand hummus over concerns about Listeria. This follows another recall of several varieties of Sabra brand hummus a year and a half ago.

So I thought now would be a good time to share my spicy hummus recipe. I've been making hummus weekly for about 2 years now. The recipe was originally copy and pasted off a website, but I've made a lot of changes over the 100+ times I've made it.

A few main differences between the original recipe and my current recipe are 1) I don't eat garlic if I can help it, so no garlic 2) Spice! Between the serrano pepper, the cayenne pepper powder, and to a lesser extent the crushed red pepper flakes, this hummus really brings the heat. I was never into spicy food before (e.g., as a kid I couldn't eat Hot Tamales candy because they were too hot), but have become a fan thanks to this hummus.

Anyway, here is my current recipe. It takes about 20 minutes to prepare.

Spicy Hummus

Ingredients:

1 can garbanzo beans (the beans and 1/4 cup of the liquid)

1 serrano pepper

1/8 red bell pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

X dashes cayenne red pepper powder

2 tablespoons tahini

4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°. Slice the red bell pepper into strips, 12 to 16 depending on the size of the pepper. I use 2 strips, and then freeze the rest for next time. Also halve the serrano pepper the long way down the middle. Put them on a baking sheet and bake them for 10 minutes if fresh, 12 minutes if frozen.

2. Open the can of garbanzo beans. Save 1/4 cup of the liquid in a measuring cup, and drain the rest. Empty the beans into a blender.

3. Add in the blender 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes, and several dashes of the cayenne pepper powder. The number of dashes depends on how spicy you want the hummus to be, and how strong your cayenne powder is. My previous bottle was very spicy, and 3-5 dashes was plenty, but my current bottle is not nearly as strong (my tolerance for spiciness has also gone up, I'm sure), so I currently use 15 dashes or so.

4. Add 2 tablespoons tahini. Tahini is a paste made from sesame seeds, and tastes a little like peanut butter. It has the consistency of jarred natural peanut butter with the oil on top, so you'll have to stir it really good the first time you open the jar. I like Once Again brand organic salt free hummus because it has a better consistency than the other brands I've tried, but any brand should work fine.

5. Add 4 tablespoons of lemon juice. 1 medium sized lemon usually yields a little more than that amount, but if I don't get 4 tablespoons I supplement the fresh juice with preserved lemon juice from one of those little yellow bottles they always have next to the fresh lemons & limes at the grocery store. But lemons are cheap, and fresh is better so it would make more sense just to juice 1/2 of another lemon.

6. About here is when the peppers are usually done baking, so add them to the blender.

7. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and the 1/4 cup of garbanzo bean liquid saved from the 2nd step.

8. Blend until the hummus reaches desired consistency. On my blender I use the 2nd lowest setting for 2-3 minutes or so.

The hummus is edible right away, but I think it tastes best after a few hours in the fridge.

One great thing about making your own hummus is how easy it is to adjust it to your preference, whether making it thicker or more liquidy with the liquid from the garbanzo beans, more or less spicy with the cayenne pepper or using other kinds of fresh peppers (I've never tried a habanero pepper before, but I'll have to try one in this recipe eventually), or more or less tangy with the lemon juice.

If anyone makes this recipe I'd be interested in hearing how it turned out, as well as any suggestions for improvement (besides adding garlic, of course).