Now that I’ve learned to make my own hummus, I can’t get myself to buy it from the store anymore.
It tastes fresher at home, it’s less expensive, and I can flavor it with any spices I want.
All it takes is tossing 7 ingredients in a food processor and blending it up. Ready in less than 10 minutes for a quick kid snack with carrots or as part of lunch.
I made these as part of the pastry week showstopper for season 1 of the Great British Bakeoff vegan challenge. The task was to make 6 kinds of pastry – 3 kinds of sweet tarts and 3 kinds of savory canapes.
The sweet tarts were butter tarts, custard tarts with sliced plums and a peach glaze, and chocolate cream pie tarts. The canapes were stuffed mushrooms in rough puff pastry, this hummus in some pastry twirls, and lentil sausage rolls.
So much fun (when there wasn’t a puppy constantly barking and wanting to eat everything), and delicious to boot!
Great British Bakeoff Vegan: Season 1, Episode 5, Showstopper
Ingredients
- 2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
- ⅓ cup tahini
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 lemon, squeezed
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt (or more to taste)
- ½ tsp spices like oregano, paprika, basil, cumin (optional)
- 1-3 Tbsp water as needed for blending to happen
Directions
Put the chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and any optional spices in a food processor.
Blend until smooth, adding in 1 Tbsp water at a time if needed to make a nice, creamy hummus.
Serve fresh with carrots, tortilla chips, or any other vegetables or dippable things you like.
Inspiration
Today I learned a fascinating Buddhist approach to trauma therapy. Plum Village monk Brother Phap Linh explained in an inspirational talk that:
“All we need to do is generate joy and take care of pain”
In Zen Buddhist training, we generate joy by focusing on all the wonderful moments and little experiences in everyday life. On my morning walk today, I noticed the sparkle of sunlight on the snow and I broke into a happy grin!
And we take care of pain by recognizing it, allowing it to be there, and seeing what lesson it has to teach us, so that it can go back to sleep. My head is starting to ache, so I realize that I haven’t had enough water to drink today, and I rehydrate myself.
If that’s all we need to do, find small happinesses and listen gently to suffering, that seems like a very manageable way to heal and a wonderful way to live.
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