Previously posted on Black & Gold Tchotchkes.

It’s okay if you still call it “hummus” and not bean dip. It has tahini in it!

If you are buying pre-made hummus, you are overpaying for your football snack.

$4.99-$8.99 for a paltry 7 ounce container of hummus is Al Davis paying for JaMarcus Russell or Gibril Wilson. Shameful.

Beans or chickpeas? Cheap. Lemon juice? Cheap. Garlic? Cheap. Salt and pepper? Cheap. Paprika, cumin and dried herbs for your pita chips? (Do not waste money on store bought baked pita chips!) Very cheap, and even cheaper if you keep away from the spices in fancy glass jars and buy the brands that come in little bags. Salt and pepper? Practically free. Tahini? Okay, tahini isn’t the cheapest thing in the world, but you’ll get a lot use out of it. If you want to go even cheaper, you can toast your own sesame seeds and then blend them together with olive oil to make your own. But still? Cheap-ish.

(And if you want to be even cheaper, you can substitute peanut butter with sesame oil for tahini, but since sesame oil is only somewhat cheap, I wouldn’t recommend it unless you already have sesame oil on hand.)

Making your own hummus is like getting LaMarr Woodley for half a million.

First up, a spin on traditional hummus, Chipotle Black Bean Hummus. As far as I can tell, as long as you include tahini, you can call it all hummus. Tahini in your morning coffee? It’s hummus.

You will need…

I not sure why I post pictures of the ingredients, but here they are anyway.

Large Batch: (Half for a smaller batch of hummus.)

2 16 oz cans of black beans, drained (If possible, reserve the fluid from one of cans for thinning the hummus while blending.)
2 gloves of raw garlic (Do not be tempted to use more than two gloves of garlic. The longer the hummus sits, the more the garlic will open up and excess garlic will overpower the rest of the flavors in your hummus.)
2 chipotle peppers packed in adobe sauce
3 tablespoons of tahini
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of paprika
salt and ground pepper to taste (About 1/2 teaspoon each should be more than enough.)

In either a food processor, bowl with a stick blender, or a traditional blender; chop together the garlic and chipotle peppers. Then add the drained black beans, the olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. The hummus will be very thick, so using either the reserved water from the can or plain water, slowly add a tablespoon of liquid at a time while blending to thin to desired consistency.

Serve with fresh pita, pita chips, rice crackers or chopped vegetables for dipping.

Bakebakebake.

Pita chips:

4-5 pieces of pita bread, split open and cut into wedges
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of dried oregano
salt

Preheat the oven to 375º and line a cookie sheet with either parchment paper or foil.  Brush the pita chips with olive oil, (or put in a giant plastic bag with the oil and shake until coated), then place on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle with dried oregano and salt, then bake until golden brown, approximately 4-6 minutes.

You can also use lemon zest, sage or pepper to season the chips.

Roasted Garlic Hummus

Large Batch: (Half for a smaller batch of hummus.)

2 16 oz cans of chickpeas, drained (If possible, reserve the fluid from one of cans for thinning the hummus while blending.)
3-4 gloves of garlic, sliced in half
2-3 tablespoons of tahini or tahini sauce*
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 tablespoons of olive oil, plus 1-2 tablespoons more for topping finished hummus
1-2 teaspoons of smoked paprika
salt and ground pepper to taste, (About 1/2 teaspoon each should be more than enough.)

*Some people don’t like the taste of tahini. You can use a tahini sauce, sold in stores like Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods, for a milder hummus. Just only use this substitution when making a more traditional hummus, as tahini sauce would not stand up to the stronger flavors of chipotle or jalapeno.

Yes, this step is so important I am willing to show it out of focus.

Even chickpeas in the can have this little shells on them. To remove these easily, soak the chickpeas in bowl of water (not the water from the can), for an hour and then swish them around to remove these casings.

Now, you don’t have to do have to remove these shells, but it makes for a smoother hummus if you do. Up to you.

Garlic, olive oil and salt. Most good recipes include these three items, even if it’s a recipe for a chocolate cake.

In a 375º oven — the same heat for your pita chips! — roast 3-4 cloves of garlic chopped in half, wrapped in foil with a light drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt until cooked thoroughly, about 20-30 minutes.

You can use more garlic in this recipe than the raw garlic in Chipotle Black Bean Hummus because roasting the cloves will take the pungent edge off of the garlic.

Blendblendblend.

Same as above:

In either a food processor, bowl with a stick blender, or a traditional blender; chop the roasted garlic. Then add the drained chickpeas, the olive oil, lemon juice, tahini, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. The hummus will be very thick, so using either the reserved water from the can or plain water, slowly add a tablespoon of liquid at a time while blending to thin to desired consistency.

Serve, topping with a drizzle of olive oil — Do not skip this step! It’s where the magic happens! — and sprinkle with paprika.

What about you guys?

Saturday is looking like a bust for football watching since we will be traveling to see Bry’s grandmother. Sunday is obviously Steelers-Browns, but Baltimore-New England looks good, New Orleans-Tampa Bay, and sadly, Dallas-Minnesota.

What are you making this weekend? What games are you watching?

Don’t forget to add your pictures to Football Foodies Flickr Group from last weekend and be sure to get some new shots this weekend!

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2 Responses to The Friday Football Foodie: Chipotle Black Bean Hummus & Roasted Garlic Hummus

  1. […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by billy tooberish and Allium Sativum, sarah sprague. sarah sprague said: Best bargain around. "The Friday Football Foodie: Chipotle Black Bean Hummus & Roasted Garlic Hummus" http://bit.ly/aV1KxJ […]

  2. Me Filli says:

    Thanks for the recipes…especially the tip about tahini substitute. Yeah…much cheaper!!

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