My intention was only to prepare the dough for hot pretzels that I’d be making tomorrow morning, but the recipe called for a cold stick of butter, which I failed to acknowledge when making the decision, so I had to let the stick of butter unfreeze first. While I waited, I cleaned a batch of spinach and made hummus and balela.
Hummus
I used to peel the skins off of the chickpeas when I made hummus to produce a smoother result, but since I got my Vitamix it’s no longer necessary. I only wish it were easier to get ALL of the hummus out of the container!
1 16oz can chickpeas (drain but reserve fluid)
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sumac
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1) Pulse the chickpeas
2) Mix tahini with 1/4 cup of chickpea fluid until smooth
3) Add tahini mix to chickpeas and process
4) While machine is running, slowly add lemon juice and olive oil in alternating streams
5) Add spices
Balela
Now’s a good time to figure out how to pronounce this… bah-lay-lah, apparently. I rarely buy pre-made dishes from behind the counter, but I was lazy one day and on a whim bought some of this along with some hummus and tabouli. I finished the entire container without stopping and had to figure out how to make it… and right now I’ve discovered the blog I used is no longer around, so here’s the recipe.
1 16oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 16oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoon mint, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sumac
1) Whisk together the oil, vinegars, lemon juice and spices together to incorporate
2) Add the green onions to mellow them a bit
3) Add the beans to coat
The traditional recipe seems to call for more parsley than mint (as well as tomatoes) but the mint is what I love about the recipe, and I tend to just omit the tomatoes unless it’s the summer time because store bought tomatoes suck. A little allspice is nice in the mix, too.
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