Super-Creamy Hummus

This is super-creamy hummus - partially because we make it in the Vita-Mix and partially because there is a fair amount of oil in this recipe. For some reason the Vita-Mix is not very good at making a single batch of hummus so we always have to double it. This is no problem because we're very good at eating a lot of it and also hummus is another one of those items that is very freezable. I never knew that but a middle-eastern lady who had a falafel/hummus stand at earthday one year told me she always made large batches of hummus and froze it. I decided that if she said it was okay it surely must be. I've never had to do it yet because I always manage to clean the bowl before it's been required. Like I said we love to eat it in large quantities. I can eat this stuff with a spoon that's how good it is. Feel free to reduce the fat dramatically -- it will still taste good even with 1/2 the fat I'm sure. I used to be the hummus maker in the family but since we got the Vita-Mix my DD is now in charge of it. This is her favorite way to make hummus.

Recipe
2 cans of chickpeas, drained & rinsed
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablesoon paul bragg
1 tablespoon flax oil
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons veganaise (optional)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic/parsley powder
2 tablespoons plain soy milk

Veggie Prairie Girl Rambles
I'd have to say that after reading the *Wikipedia* page on chickpeas they must win 1st price for being the most versatile legume on the market. Here's an excerpt from that page:

Mature chickpeas can be cooked and eaten cold in salads, cooked in stews, ground into a flour called gram flour (also known as besan and used primarily in Indian cuisine), ground and shaped in balls and fried as falafel, fermented to make an alcoholic drink similar to sake, stirred into a batter and baked to make farinata, cooked and ground into a paste called hummus or roasted, spiced and eaten as a snack (such as leblebi).

Chickpea flour is also used to make "Burmese tofu" which was first known among the Shan people of Burma. The flour is used as a batter to coat various vegetables and meats before frying, such as with panelle, a chickpea fritter from Sicily.[9] Chickpea flour is also used to make the mediterranean flatbread socca.


After seeing photos of the Burmese Tofu, the *Socca (pictured above)* and reading all the different ways I've never used chickpeas, I'm on the hunt for some new recipes. I already made "Leblebi" (roasted chickpeas) in November - though at that time I had never heard the word "Leblebi" before. I also found out that there are two main kinds of chickpea - Desi & Kabuli. The desi type is used to make Chana Dal, which is a split chickpea with the skin removed. The Kabuli seems to be used for all the other ways to use chickpeas. And apparently in the Philippines garbanzo beans are preserved in syrup and eaten as sweets and in desserts such as halo-halo! That would be an interesting one to see and try. And, now, after reading all the things we can do with our wonderful little chickpea I was thinking how much fun it would be to see an Iron Chef "Chickpea" Challenge! They've probably already done it...but I'd love to see it!

Nutritional Profile for Chickpeas
One hundred grams of mature boiled chickpeas contains 164 calories, 2.6 grams of fat (of which only 0.27 grams is saturated), 7.6 grams of dietary fiber and 8.9 grams of protein. Chickpeas also provide dietary calcium (49–53 mg/100 g).

*Wikipedia: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/*