Roasted red pepper-sun dried tomato-chipotle hummus

I've loved hummus for a pretty long time. Something about the cold grittiness of the texture, really makes my mouth happy, and typically causes said mouth to want to cram as much of it into itself as possible in one sitting. Hummus is typically pretty low fat, which is good. But that also depends upon how it is made.

I have been making my own for a couple of months now. I wont go back to store bought hummus. What's the point? This recipe is easy, (mostly) makes quite a bit, and is more delicious than any store bought stuff I've had. It was this hummus that made me fall in love with my Cuisine Art food processor, which was a Christmas gift from my darling sister, which was actually a re-gift from her wedding. I'd love to get married, if only to have lots of extra kitchen/cooking appliances laying around. I suppose if you had one hell of a blender, you could probably do this recipe. But it may be tough to execute. Here is what you need to make this spectacular roasted red pepper-sun dried tomato-chipotle hummus:

2 (15.5 ounce) cans garbanzo beans, drained
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup tahini (sesame-seed paste)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (get real, you can use the bottle stuff too)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 (7 ounce) jar roasted red bell peppers, drained
6 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
The National, Album: High Violet

Now, let me make a few comments about some of the ingredients. The first time I made this, I spent like 7 bucks on a jar of tahini. My sister told me that she made hummus, put in the called for tahini amount, and her hummus tasted like ass. So, I tasted the tahini. And sure enough, it tasted like ass. So I decided to cut the amount in half. The next time I made it, I completely omitted it. I couldn't really tell a difference. I think that the other ingredients in this particular hummus are so flavorful, that the tahini wouldn't do much anyways. Plus, if you are looking to add less fat, zero tahini = mucho less fat.

I have also done everything from 2 tbps of oil, to half that, to none. Besides a slight texture difference, I haven't minded completely omitting the olive oil. Again, it all depends upon whether or not you want added fat in your hummus. This can be virtually free of saturated fats, if you avoid the oil and tahini all together.

How much you like the smokey flavor of chipotle peppers, should determine how many peppers you actually put in. If you just put in one, it isn't likely to add much flavor, and very little heat. I love chipotles, so I usually add 4 or 5 peppers. This does make the hummus a bit spicy, but not too overpowering. My tongue is sort of a baby when it comes to spicy foods, and it isn't too much for me to handle. You could always remove some seeds if you wanted the flavor, but not so much heat.

I have found pretty cheap, bulk dried sun dried tomatoes at the Smiths in the Avenues. It was right next to the ginger root in that store. I bought about .90 cents worth, vs the 5 or 6 bucks I had to spend on a jar of them. Might be worth looking into. I did, however, get 2 or 3 batches of hummus from one jar.

So here is what you do: Dump the 2 cans of garbanzo beans in your food processor. Don't panic if this mostly fills the processor up. Everything else will cram in. Add the water, the oil and tahini (if you want them) the lemon juice, chipotle pepper(s), cumin, and garlic. Then process the hell out of it. Once done, add the roasted red peppers, the sun dried tomatoes, cilantro, and salt and pepper. At this point, I have both, once again, processed the hell out of everything, or just pulsed these final ingredients until finely chopped. As far as taste goes, nothing really changes. But texture and appearance obviously do. I think the coarser look is actually prettier, but ultimately it is personal preference.

Once finished, chill and enjoy. This hummus, I fed to my uncle who was a total hater, and scoffed at the idea of a tasty hummus. He shut up pretty quick upon tasting this, and subsequently ate about 1/4 of the container. I'm telling you, this is a winner.