Spicy Hummus

Name: Spicy Hummus
Yield: makes about 2 cups
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil; 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes; 1/2 teaspoon pimenton (smoked Spanish paprika); 2 cups cooked chickpeas, preferably homemade (page 47), rinsed and drained; 1/2 cup chickpea cooking liquid or water, plus more as needed; 2 tablespoons tahini, plus more as needed; Juice of 1 lemon; 1 plump clove garlic, peeled; 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

December 14, 2011

I love hummus, but ever since I had the justifiably famous spicy version at Sahadi’s, a Middle Eastern specialty foods shop in Brooklyn, I’m not satisfied with the tame stuff anymore. This is not their recipe, but it wasn’t hard to add a little fire to my favorite one, which uses more water than you might think, resulting in a particularly silky hummus. Eat some immediately, of course, with crackers or bread or whatever suits your fancy, but make sure to save some for Eggplant and Spicy Hummus Flatbread (page 115), and refrigerate the rest for up to 2 weeks, during which time you can use it as a sandwich spread or even thin it out with vinegar to make a salad dressing. A shortcut, obviously, is to add the pepper-infused olive oil to your favorite store-bought hummus.

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