Hearty, Smarty, Sesame Homemade Hummus

It's funny... I wasn't sure how this would go over, and people were laughing at my surprise at how well it was recieved. I guess that's what happens when you blenderize on a whim and have strange tastes to begin with. I liked it when I tried it, but I like almost everything, so that didn't tell me much. It wasn't until I served this to my more discrimatory critics that the delectibilitiy of this dish was solidified. Try serving with homemade pita chips made by cutting whole wheat pitas into pieces, spraying with a little olive oil spray, sprinkling with garlic salt and pepper, and baking in a 450°F oven for a couple minutes until crisp. (You could broil them, but then you run the risk of burning if you're like me and decide to wash your hair in the minute or two you have before they become burnt black wafers. I always forget to factor in the minute for brushing my hair...).

Ingredients:

one 29 ounce can chick peas a.k.a. garbanzo beans a.k.a. cici in Italian (you can also use two 15 ounce cans! I’m a math major!)

½ cup jarred roasted peppers, with the liquid (I used what I had leftover. It had bits of garlic and other spices floating around in the liquid, so that’s why I say just dump in the whole kit-n-kaboodle)

1 garlic clove, or the equivalent in jarred or powdered garlic

½ teaspoon light sesame oil (this stuff is super powerful tasting, so a little goes a long way)

a few hefty shakes of ground coriander

a few squirts of lime juice

ground black pepper to taste

1 to 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

water (okay, so I totally didn’t measure this… I like my hummus on the thicker side, so I added just enough water to blend everything and not throw my blender into overload)

garlic salt to taste

1. Throw all the ingredients up through and including the ground pepper into your machine of choice (or in my case, lack of choice). (My parents have a food processor which is steps above my blender in terms of hummus making abilities, but my Black n Decker still gets the job done with minimal whining.) Add a few tablespoons of water, and give ‘er a whirl. Add more water as necessary to get all those beans mashed.

2. While blending, add the 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Let it blend at least 5 seconds more.

3. Turn off your blender (you don’t want the added flavor of wooden spoons or fingers in your hummus) and taste your creation. Add more spices if necessary. Again, I’m partial to flinging in a bit of garlic salt, but you know me…

4. Enjoy your homemade delight!!