WhimsyLand

Junie has adopted this interesting culinary protocol that involves salads and proteins and nutrients and such, all ranked and lined up in a table that dictates her meal selections.  One of the many interesting variants in one section of the spreadsheet is the ghanoush/hummus family.  The reason that I group these two delights is that they share all the same ingredients except for the starchy base.  Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) are much more than a starch of course – they are relatively high in protein quality.  Eggplants (or aubergine, a much lovelier moniker) have less fat, but lower-quality protiens, and nowhere near the dietary fiber.  Tahini, made from sesame seeds, has about the same nutritional value as eggplants.

The basic hummus recipes all start out with garlic, lemon juice, tahini, and chickpeas.  A typical ratio is:

(1) 14-ounce can of chickpeas
Quarter-cup of tahini
Quarter-cup of lemon (one medium lemon squeezed)
(1) clove of garlic, roughly chopped as it's going to get blenderized anyway

I've tried twice as much tahini, which gives the hummus a mild tang.  I've also tried more garlic, which is terrific if you like a punch and will be sleeping on the couch tonight anyway.  The recipe scales nicely up to about 4 times the ingredient amounts shown above.  At that point, you probably have at least a quart of hummus, so I hope you have a lot of pita bread in the freezer.

The great thing about hummus is that it only takes 3-5 minutes to make and lasts for a week or more in a refrigerated container (and a couple of months frozen).  As usual, you can use a blender (particularly if you like your hummus gooier), but a food processor will give you better control.  Dump the chickpeas into the blender/food-processor, along with the tahini, lemon juice and garlic – that's right, everything goes in and there's nothing to cook.  At this point you have your basic hummus.  Alternatives at this point, including adding:

• Either a quarter-cup of water or up to an eighth-cup of olive oil (I always do the latter, as it gives you a satiny hummus with more ooomph)
• Add another garlic clove if you dare
• Add a quarter-teaspoon of paprika, or wait and sprinkle some on the top of the hummus after it's done
• Toss in an eighth-cup of either bland pitted black olives like your mother put on your nachos, or better yet pitted Kalamata or small black Nicoise olives
• Throw in a tablespoon of cumin (which I ALWAYS do, but then I love cumin)
• For a beautiful hummus, throw in a quarter-cup of roasted red peppers
• You will probably need some salt (usually 1 teaspoon is called for), but I find with olives, red peppers and cumin, you don't need much
• For the adventuresome among you, try a pinch of cayenne or a couple of shakes of Tabasco
• Some recipes call for adding a handful of fresh parsley at the end of the processing, but you can also sprinkle it on the top of the finished product

That's it!  If you don't like the way it turns out, just add some more chickpeas and tahini (which will bland it out), and add back more of what it's missing.  Hummus (and baba ghanoush) are great media to experiment with, as well.  I've seen it prepared with sautéed spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and black beans substituted for the chickpeas.  I've also seen lemon juice swapped out for lime juice, for a more tropical flavor (for example if you use black beans and cilantro).

Baba Ghanoush is made exactly the same way, except that you have to bake some eggplants.  Baba ghanoush always reminds me of Baba Yaga, the old witch in the Slavic fairy tale whose house had chicken legs. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake the whole eggplants for about 30 minutes until tender.  When the eggplant is done, let it cool a bit, then cut it into halves and scoop out the eggplanty goodness.  This replaces one can of chickpeas in the recipe above.  You can also create a mélange, using both chickpeas and eggplant, if you wish, which will give you a little stiffer result.

Okay, you have these great dips now.  What do you dip with?  The traditional scooper are wedges of pita bread, but crudités are pretty typical, too:  broccoli, grape tomatoes, steamed asparagus and cauliflower, baby carrots, or what have you.