Quick & Easy - 5 Minute Hummus Dip

Hummus holds a very special place in my heart.  The first time I had hummus was with my  college suite-mate when we were hanging out in her room.  From the very first dip, I was hooked...to the point where I would finish a container of Trader Joe's roasted garlic hummus by myself in 1 sitting.  I would continue this pattern of eating my friend's hummus until a Trader Joe's opened near my parents' home & I was able to get my very own.  I don't eat so much hummus anymore, but whenever I do happen to get my hands on it, you can expect me to go a little bit out of control.

I was feeling particularly snack'y the other day but I didn't want to eat my pita chips by themselves so I rummaged around my cupboards in search for a condiment.  I found no such thing but I did find a can of garbanzo beans that has been in my possession for...let's just say much longer than it should.  Hopeful to rid my home of this can of beans & inspired by the pita chips, I went for the first thing that came to mind.  A quick minute on the internet & a recipe from the magnificent Alton Brown & I'm ready to go.

No tricky ingredients...
     3 cloves garlic, peeled
     1 can garbanzo bean (a.k.a. chickpeas)
     2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
     0.5 lemon, zest & juice
     2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
     Salt & black pepper to taste

No complex steps...
Drain the garbanzo beans really well & set aside
In a food processor, pulse to chop the garlic gloves
Add in the garbanzo bean & continue to pulse until it starts to look like a paste
Add in the peanut butter, lemon zest/juice, olive oil, & process until smooth
Season with salt & pepper & blend for an extra minute

Makes approximately 2.5 cups

The end product looked like store-bought hummus except slightly more liquid.  The flavor was really nice, especially the little bit of spiciness from the raw garlic.  However, there was a "raw" flavor from the garbanzo beans that was pretty prominent.  Maybe that's the disadvantage of using canned beans.  Or maybe my can had just been around for a little too long.  Traditionally, hummus is made with tahini (sesame paste) but since I didn't have any, I used peanut butter as a substitute.  I couldn't really taste the peanut butter & it didn't do anything for the texture of the hummus.  Perhaps I can use sesame oil in place of half of the olive oil next time to get that sesame flavor.  After letting the dip sit in the fridge overnight, the consistency became much thicker but the weird bean flavor was still there.  For an even healthier snack, I eat the dip with radish instead of pita chips.  Now that I know hummus isn't that difficult to make, I am going to try & come up with a copy cat version of my favorite - Trader Joe's roasted garlic hummus!