Beans and legumes are a great source of nourishment when properly prepared. Chickpeas, aka garbanzo beans, used in this recipe contain manganese, folate, protein, copper, phosphorus, and iron.
I’m still down with eating meat for protein, but sometimes I want to give my body a rest from meat protein as it is a little more difficult for the body to break down. Beans are a great alternative, adding the right type of carbs, protein, and vitamins and minerals for a nourishing meal or snack (like hummus!). Lately, I am loving me some carrot sticks. I dip those babies in some of this hummus and call it a lunch! This is also the time of year when many of us are looking for finger food-like dips at holiday parties. Why not make your friends and family some healthy lacto-fermented hummus?
What’s even better? I cooked the chick peas in a gelatinous pork broth so all those yummy nutrients are floating around in my hummus too allowing some of the fat soluble nutrients in the beans to digest well.
What you need
4 c sprouted, chickpeas (I started with 2 cups dried and ended up with 6 cups once sprouted. You only need 4 cups)
broth/water to cook the beans (I used pork broth)
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 limes
handful basil
juice of 2 limes (or less if you prefer it not so tart)
1/2 T garam masala (I use this in a lot of my food. Make up a bunch to have on hand!)
2 T tahini
4 T vegetable starter (or up your salt to 2 T)
3/4 – 1 c olive oil (optional mixed with a little sesame oil)
salt to taste, (I didn’t use any because my garam masala and broth had plenty, plus I used a veggie starter)
Procedure
1) Sprout your chick peas 2 days in advance.
2) Bring some broth or water to a boil and add 4 cups of chick peas. Cook for about an hour.
3) When soft and cooked through, strain and cool! It’s very important to cool the beans or you will kill the enzymes in the fresh veggies and it won’t ferment.
4) In a food processor add COOLED chick peas, garlic, limes, basil, tahini, vegetable starter, and a little olive/sesame oil to start. Start blending.
5) Slowly pour more olive oil to loosen up the hummus. When you feel it’s the right consistency, stop and scoop into a glass jar.
6) Place a lid on the jar and let ferment in a warm, dark place for 3 days. Then refrigerate and serve.
This post links to: Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Scratch Cookin’, Hearth and Soul, Wednesday Fresh Food, Real Food Wed, Whole Foods Wed, Healthy2day, Simple Lives, Pennywise Platter, Keep it Real, Thank Your Body, Fight Back,
An excellent twist! I snack on carrots and hummus every day.
My version adds a handful of soaked almonds and some dry wasabi plus more garlic.
Don’t forget the garlic. Basil fur sure.
I like the wasabi idea. More garlic is a preference. If I didn’t use curry (I have garlic powder in the garam masala that I used) I may have added a whole garlic, but my cloves were pretty large so I get a lot of garlic flavor too.
I’ve been making cultured vegetables for a while now, but haven’t done much culturing of other stuff. What is “vegetable starter”? I’d like to make this recipe but have a hard time trusting wild fermentation.
Melissa, You can use whey as well. But lately, when I ferment vegetables (like the basil and garlic in the recipe), I have been using leftover liquid from previous ferments. No need to buy a vegetable starter culture if you already have ferments that have liquid. It’ a great way to keep those cultures active from one batch to another. It’s also more cost effective. With whey you constantly have to keep making and using it up. Also, as I mentioned in the recipe, you can also just use extra salt to kick start the fermentation if you don’t have starter.
It sounds fantastic, but one question..what is vegetable starter?
I just used the liquid from my last vegetable ferment (which happened to be salsa water). If you don’t have it, just use extra salt (2 tablespoons) or liquid whey to start the ferment.
Dear lordy does this look good. I can’t wait to go try it. Well – sprouting stuff, I have to wait a few days, but as soon as I can!
That sprouting stuff will get ya when you’re in the mood for something like this, won’t it? But it’s so worth it.
Let me know how it turns out for you.
When I make sprouted hummus, I keep the chick peas raw – it seems like a waste to create all those nutrients then kill them with boiling water.
I don’t like the texture of the uncooked beans, so that is a personal preference. The ferment works fine with the other raw ingredients in the hummus.
(edited this comment to add:) Boiling does not kill all the nutrients in the bean. It kills enzymes for sure, but those are replaced by the fresh veggies in the garlic and basil and enhanced during fermentation.
I hear that, I am on the fence with the nutty flavor of raw sprouted hummus. Hope you didn’t mind my feedback.
Not at all. We all have preferences. I used to eat my steel cut oats raw too (just for some crunch) because of the nutty flavor . . . . I don’t do that anymore though because I think its bad for me.
This is an excellent tutorial! I didn’t realise you could ferment hummus – it sounds like it would have a fabulous depth of flavour as well as being super nutritious.
What does this taste like (as compared with unfermented hummus)?
Thanks for this great recipe Jen. I’ll be sharing it with the peeps at Keep It Real Thursdays this week.
[...] Real Food Freaks [...]
I had no idea!! Going to today to buy chickpeas..this brings to mind chick-pea miso, but i think i would like this better. CP miso brings to mind another miso w/ dandelions and now i am wondering how to incorporate greens into this humus recipe..do you think chopped greens would work? I have a patch of evening primrose and would love to use them as they are nice & oily. I just found you this morning so perhaps you have other recipes for fermenting greens?
Many thanks for sharing your expertise!!
This would work with lentils, too!
[...] Fermented Curry Hummus [...]
Would it be OK to use lemons/lemon juice instead of lime?