Hummus 101

So, hummus has been a staple in our house for years now. We love that big container that you can pick up at Costco for about five bucks. My kids have been dipping their carrot sticks in it from a very young age. But that all changed when we moved to Korea.

First of all, Costco does not carry my beloved hummus--or any hummus--yet. I have faith that they will. Secondly, garbanzo beans are hard to come by. And if you do find them, you know, it's about four dollars for a small can. Ouch.

So we've been getting our hummus fix from one of the local Turkish restaurants. Not that I'm complaining. It is probably my favorite restaurant in all of Seoul. Pita, chicken, and hummus? You can't go wrong!

But, recently I heard that you can buy cheap dry chickpeas from one of the local international markets, so I set off in search of the store and the beans. I was able to get a 5 kg bag for less than four dollars! Very exciting! My next task was to try my hand at homemade hummus.

I quickly realized that I was going to have make my own tahini to start which was an experience. Then I realized that my blender is pretty weak and making two pounds of chickpeas (after soaking for 15 hours and boiling for 3 hours) was going to take quite a while in multiple batches. But, after about a 3 hour operation (not including the boiling), I finally had some beautiful, creamy homemade hummus. I adapted this recipe to work for me.

And nothing for dinner at 5:30 on Sunday night except hummus. So, I rummaged through the fridge, took a couple of chicken breasts out of the freezer, sent Eric to the nearby bakery to pick up some delicious pitas, and by 6:30 we were having our own Mediterranean feast. Yum! (Now if only I knew what I threw into that skillet so that I could re-create it!)