Spicy Hummus: We Heart Chickpeas

In the past week, I've somehow wound up discussing the unending virtues of the chickpea in three different conversations. Everyone is eager to defend their own native land's work with the chickpea, or garbanzo bean. And while Italian soups are nice, and curried chickpeas are marvelous, Middle Easterners win hands down when it comes to the chickpea. One word: hummus. Creamy and satisfying, hummus is the perfect base for an infinite variety of flavor variations. It's also cheap and easy to make at home. If you have a food processor, don't settle for the watery (and pricey) offerings of the Tribe of Two Sheiks. It takes three minutes to make better stuff your own.

Chickpea chauvinism aside, hummus has a co-MVP: tahini. Tahini is just a paste of ground toasted sesame seeds, so if you feel enterprising you can make your own in the food processor before adding the chickpeas. My experience is that buying premade tahini is much cheaper than buying the sesame seeds whole, fiddling with toasting, and then trying to successful grind the tiny things.

Our household's number one chickpea booster is the Human Vacuum. He's also the official hummus maker. H.V. is the one who first insisted we purchase our first industrial-sized can of chickpeas at Costco. He is a wise man.

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Spicy Hummus
(The Human Vacuum's patented recipe)

Dump into a colander and rinse well with cold water:
2 cups canned chickpeas
(Canned chickpeas can be pretty salty. When you first start rinsing the water will foam. Keep going until the foam subsides.)

Pour the chickpeas into the food processor and add:
2/3 cup tahini paste
1/4 cup lime juice (lemon is traditional, but lime is zingier)
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 Tablespoons Potbelly Hot Peppers or other spicy pickled pepper (optional, but awesome)
Pinch salt

Whir the whole mess in the food processor until very smooth. Some people like a little chunky texture, but they are fools. Go for the consistency of Greek yogurt. Stick some pita, or your fingers, into the processor occasionally (stop the blades first) to allow your girlfriend to taste test. If the hummus sticks together in a ball, or otherwise and seems too thick, thin it with a few Tablespoons of water or olive oil. H.V. prefers to use water and drizzle the olive oil over the top at the end.

Serve drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with:
Fresh cilantro, or
paprika (smoked for preference)