Best hummus & ethnic grocery stores

[Owlie]

Oh goodness, hummus is SO much easier and quicker than curries and masalas! For one thing hummus IS the dish, making seasonings is just one step in making a dish for which you still have to prep all the vegetables and everything. I finally gave up on Indian cooking, it was just so time-consuming.

To me it comes down to expense and waste. Even top quality exotic ingredients ... A pound of organic chickpeas is $4 - a bulb of organic local heirloom garlic, $2 - a bunch of organic parsley, if you don't grow your own, $1, two organic lemons, $2, half a cup of organic sesame seeds, roughly $1. That'll net you three or four pounds of hummus for $10, versus 6 or 8 oz in the store for $3 or $4, in a polypro tub that can't even be recycled most places, and there are only so many of those you can re-use.

Basically the only reason I even own a food processor is for chickpeas. If it weren't for hummus and falafel, I'd hardly ever have a use for it.

Yeah, I very rarely cook anything Indian because prepping the spices takes forever, and they can be expensive if you live somewhere without a significant Indian population.
I love hummus, but I don't eat so much of it that I can justify making it myself. (I'm also too lazy to clean the blender, but that's another matter.) Though I have to ask: Oak, where do you find sesame seeds in those quantities? I've only seen small jars in the Asian foods section (or small jars of tahini when I was living in Cleveland), and don't think I've ever seen them in bulk. Also, do you have a falafel recipe that you're willing to share?

[OakLeaf]

where do you find sesame seeds in those quantities?

Arrowhead Mills has it in 1# bags, almost any natural food store has them. I don't even buy tahini any more, it's so much fresher if I grind the seeds myself.

Also, do you have a falafel recipe that you're willing to share?

I pretty much use the Joy of Cooking recipe, but it's as close as nevermind to this one from Mark Bittman. Probably a bit more garlic, and I always put in a couple of tablespoons of whatever wheat flour I have lying around to help it stick together, though this recipe is gluten-free and could stay that way.

I hate recipes that start with "chopped parsley," e.g. What I do is trim and chunk the garlic, throw into the food processor, whir 'til it's more or less minced. Trim the parsley, throw it into the FP, pulse until minced. Then add the trimmed, chunked onion and drained chickpeas and proceed per the recipe.

[Owlie]

Thanks! That sounds tasty. (I miss the Middle Eastern restaurants in Cleveland. Cheap and tasty food!) Do you deep-fry or bake yours? As tasty as deep-fried might be, I'm never going to have enough oil on hand to merit deep-frying, with it being just me. (Well, that and I'd like someone to be able to wield a fire extinguisher should something happen!) Easier clean-up too. The food processor sat for a few days the last time I used it... I agree with you--if you've got it out already, you may as well make it worth your effort to clean it and make the rest of the steps easier. Do you have sauce with it? If so, what kind?

And thanks for the tip on sesame seeds. I'll have to take a look.

[OakLeaf]

I fry mine. Filter the oil through a coffee filter, put it in an empty bottle, keep it in the fridge until the next batch of falafel. Or it adds a nice flavor to scrambled eggs if you're into that.

I make a tahini sauce pretty much like Bittman describes, but without yogurt. Tahini (or sesame seeds that I grind first before adding liquids), lemon juice, red pepper, salt, water to thin. No idea of quantities, I just go by taste. The mini-chopper attachment for the stick blender is perfect for that.



PS - DH used the food processor to make gazpacho tonight. That's the other thing it gets used for.