Monday, August 24, 2009

Tahini-free Hummus with Sundried Tomatoes, Kalamata Olives, and Rosemary

This is one of the recipes my friend Val pulled together on limited resources while we were backpacking through New Zealand. Store bought hummus was one of our staples (as was canned beans and sundried tomatoes) because we'd sometimes go hours without refrigeration. Fresh rosemary was often found wild in abundance, so we incorporated that into a lot of our cooking as well. Val threw this hummus together one Sunday afternoon with what we had on hand in one of those bullet blenders and it was so far superior to the store bought stuff that we gobbled it down straight away. We didn't have tahini so we had to do without, but I honestly didn't miss it at all.
Today I made it for the family with these ingredients:
2 cups garbanzo beans (I cooked my own from dehydrated, but canned works just as well)
1T sundried tomatoes in oil
1tsp. sundried tomato oil
1/2 lemon (juice from)
2 garlic cloves
1T fresh rosemary (It grows wild in abundance. I found some in front of a neighbor's house.)
15 kalamata olives and juice
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1/2tsp red chili flakes

I threw it in the food processor instead of the blender because I like it chunky - but either works just fine.
Calories: 50/oz.