Hummus for dinner: Jalapeno Black Bean Hummus
Note: This post is part of Knuckle Salad’s Hummus All Day Long initiative.
Man, if nine-year-old me could read this blog—or even 20-year-old me, if I’m totally honest—she would make such a face about the gratuitous use of beans in my recent recipes. And this one would really puzzle her. Why would Future Me ruin a perfectly great, starchy, shrimpy burrito with a bunch of nasty mashed-up beans? What is wrong with Future Me? Has Future Me maybe been locked up for some reason? Gotten used to prison food?
No, Tiny Me. The only thing that “happened” was that I decided to take on beans. I was tired of having to pick them out of, like, everything. So I started with baked beans in my early 20s, and that was it, until I gradually started accepting black beans prepared in certain very specific ways, and then chili, and then red beans and rice, and these days if I see an unexpected bean in something I pretty much just dig in and hope for the best. Unless it’s chickpeas, that is, but even then there is the exception of certain kinds of hummus, which brings us back to the main point, which is this spicy hummus that’s made with black beans instead of chickpeas, and is terribly easy and delicious and reminiscent of summer, and you don’t even have to cook it.
It’s great as a dip with tortilla chips. It’s also very, very good in a shrimp taco with brown rice. It basically does the job of refried beans, but it isn’t even once-fried, which is a decision that can easily earn the saturated-fat-conscious among us an after-dinner scoop of ice cream. Even Tiny Me understands how ice cream is better than no ice cream.
Of course, she might have some reservations about that red bean ice cream I had at the sushi place that time.
Jalapeno black bean hummus
- 1 (15-oz) can black beans
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 jalapeno
- 1 Tbsp lime juice
- Drain the beans, but reserve the liquid.
- Demolish the garlic and pepper in the food processor. Add the beans, 2 Tbsp of the reserved liquid, and the lime juice, and puree. If the mixture appears too thick, gradually add more of the reserved liquid, 1 tsp at a time.
- Chill at least 30 minutes before serving.
