Eating healthy is always on our list of priorities, but it’s even more important now that I’m carrying a tiny human to feed. I’ve been following 101 Cookbooks, an inventive natural food blog for several years, but always felt the ingredients were something you had to have a Whole Foods budget or a California market to get your hands on.
When we moved to the Atlanta area, I discovered the Dekalb Farmer’s Market and it has quickly become a weekly shopping destination for me. From blood oranges to kohlrabi to dried chanterelles you can find just about anything you could imagine at an awesome price.
On my last trip, I picked up almost 2 lbs of dried chickpeas for a whopping $2.97. I followed Heidi’s recipe pretty closely, although I made a half batch of the hummus part but made the full jalapeno sauce portion.
I also didn’t have parsley on hand, so I swapped it for fresh chives instead. I expected a lot of heat from the jalapeno, but it gave a surprising freshness to the sauce… the heat really took until the next day’s leftovers to show up. Overall this was a smooth, satisfying accompaniment to some toasted oat pitas.
Creamy Jalapeno & Chive Hummus
(makes 2 cups of hummus)
- 1/2 lb dried chickpeas
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 c. water
- 1/4 c. lemon juice
- 3/4 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 c. tahini
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/4 c. chives
- 1 jalapeño, destemmed and deseeded
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 2/3 c. olive oil
Soak the chickpeas for 4 hours. Rinse and discard the water. Add 4 cups of water and the baking soda to the chickpeas. Boil over medium high heat for 40 minutes, skimming foam from the top. Drain.
Combine cooked chickpeas, water, lemon juice, salt, 1 clove of garlic and tahini to your food processor. Puree for several minutes, scraping down sides of the bowl in between to ensure smoothness. Put the hummus into a pretty serving bowl.
De-seed and de-stem the jalapeno and place it in the food processor bowl. Pulse it with the chive, garlic and salt. With the food processor running, slowly stream in the olive oil. Swirl the jalapeno sauce into the hummus until the desired flavor is achieved. (Leftovers can be used in a dressing, sauce or as a marinade).
