One thing the pressure cooker is awesome at, among many things, is making dried beans in the fraction of the time it takes on the stove. It takes less than one hour to cook most dried beans even if you forget to soak them, which I always do. Seriously, it takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours to cook chickpeas, my favorite bean, on the stove. It takes 40 minutes to cook chickpeas in the pressure cooker if I forget to soak them and 15 minutes if I remember to soak them. WOW!!!
So I have been cooking a lot of chickpeas lately and making a lot of different things with them. My favorite chickpea dish is hummus. I like the fact you can make a simple hummus and it is as delicious as a complicated, fancy hummus. There are so many variations online and I am sure you could come up with many more. Here are my two favorite variations, one simple and one fancy. I don’t remember where I found the pumpkin hummus idea but it is really good and perfect for the fall weather that is up on us.
If you don’t have a pressure cooker to make your chickpeas, feel free to use a good brand of canned chickpea instead or cook your own on the stove.
Small Batch Hummus
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained, reserving the liquid
2 TBS olive oil
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ to ½ cups parsley
Drain the chickpeas reserving the liquid. Place the chickpeas in a blender or food processor. Add the olive oil, garlic and parsley. While pulsing the blender, add the bean liquid one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
Pumpkin Hummus
1 15 oz can chickpeas (2 cups)
¼ cup chickpea liquid
6 TBS pure pumpkin
2 TBS lemon juice
1 TBS olive oil
1 ½ TBS tahini or natural peanutbutter
1 large garlic clove, minced
½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp cumin
Drain the chickpeas reserving the liquid. Place the chickpeas in a blender or food processor. Add lemon juice, olive oil, tahini, garlic and spices. While pulsing, add the chickpea liquid one tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.
A Cuppa And Conversation 