Hummus Kalaya

Julie has already posted one hummus recipe from the Cheese Factory that uses canned garbonzos. You can see that recipe here. The recipe here uses dry beans and is from the Chicago Diner.

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

1/2 pound dried garbanzo beans (about 1 1/4 cups)
2 quarts water
1/2 coarsely chopped green onion
1/2 cup parsley
3 Tbsp minced garlic
3/4 cup tahini
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1-2 Tbsp olive oil

Directions

Bring the beans and water to boil, and simmer 1 1/2 hours until they are very tender. The softer they are the creamier the hummus will be. Drain the beans, reserving about 1 cup of the liquid. Place the beans in a food processor with the reserved liquid and remaining ingredients, and process until smooth.

Note: There are a few ways to speed up the cooking time on the garbanzo beans. A quick search online found suggestions to: add 1/2-1 tsp of baking soda to the cooking water; soak the beans for 12 hours before simmering in the soaking water; and use a pressure cooker. I also found suggestions to add a postage stamp sized piece of kombu (dried kelp used heavily in Japanese cooking, particularly in making dashi stock) to the pot while cooking. It will speed up cooking too, as well as helping to eliminate gas from the beans and making them easier to digest.

To make the veggies:

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium carrot
1 small zucchini
1 red or yellow bell pepper
1 medium red onion
1/4 small head of red cabbage
2 handfuls of fresh spinach
1 rounded Tbsp dried oregano
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Cut all veggies to similarly sized matchsticks. Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large cast iron skillet. Add all ingredients except the spinach and red cabbage. Cook until the veggies have started to soften and have a little color. You need to make sure not to stir them too frequently if you want color to develops. Now add the spinach and cabbage and cook just a couple minutes  until the spinach has wilted.

Arranging everything for serving
Pita bread can be heated in the oven or on the stove top in a cast iron skillet. Cut them in 6 pieces and arrange in a ring on your serving piece with the points facing out. Arrange the veggies to form a sort of next in the middle of the pita and then spoon hummus into the center. If desired, you can further dress the plate with a quick drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika and/or chopped parsley.