Smoked Chickpea Hummus

Hummus – a staple food of many from both the Islamic and Jewish faiths – has gained tremendous popularity in the Western world.

For this recipe, I smoked the chickpeas in my XL Big Green Egg at the same time I smoked dates stuffed with goat cheese. Although the hummus came out ok, I made a few mistakes:

• Chickpeas got too smokey. Next time, I’d smoke them for only 5-10 minutes.
• Hummus was chunky. I used our smaller Ninja blender (the kind used to make smoothies) instead of our full sized one. The Ninja blender couldn’t achieve the creamy texture.

Smoked Chickpea Hummus Recipe

You can use any hummus recipe to make this…just smoke the chickpeas before blending. The below recipe not the traditional one. It’s a lighter version of hummus, substituting greek yogurt for tahini (based on a recipe published in NY Times). The hummus becomes tangy, which, admittedly, won’t appeal to everyone.

Ingredients:

• One 15-ounce can chickpeas (garbanzo), rinsed and drained well
• Juice from 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
• 1 cloves garlic
• 5 oz plain greek yogurt
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 1/4 red onion, chopped

  

Directions:

1. Set up grill for indirect cooking at around 300 degrees with some wood chunks to add smoke. I used pecan, which proved to be a bit too strong. A milder wood – maybe cherry or apple – may be a better choice
2. Put chickpeas in a grilling basket or on an aluminum sheet and place in grill
3. Smoke for about 5-10 minutes. I did 15 minutes and it was too long
4. Blend smoked chickpeas with all the other ingredients
5. Top with chopped red onions or whatever garnish you desire