During the beginning of the pandemic, a Facebook ad for Napa Nuts popped up on my feed and I took the bait.
I ordered a few shipments for my in-laws in Hawaii so that they could enjoy some California dried fruits, nuts and other treats without having to leave the house. And they loved them.
Of course, I also had to order some for myself.
I loved them too! It's one of the few times that taking the ad bait worked out for me.
Well, by now, those yummy candied nuts and dried fruits are long gone, but I still have some of their whole sun-dried tomatoes. (A pound of sun-dried tomatoes goes a long way!) I've been slowly using these in stews, pastas, and homemade humus.
In this post, I'd like to share with you this delicious yet easy to whip up sun-dried tomato basil humus recipe. It's perfect with fluffy soft pita bread, chips, or vegetable sticks.
If you don't have whole sun-dried tomatoes, jarred sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil is perfectly fine. Also, traditionally, tahini is used in humus, but I never have any in my fridge. Plus if I do, it's turned rancid before half the jar is finished. So for my humus, I just use white hulled sesame seeds, which I always have in the pantry, and grind it up in the food processor along with some olive oil. Of course, if you do have good tahini already in your fridge, you can use that in this recipe instead.
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| Process sesame seeds first |
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| Add reconstituted sundried tomatoes and process |
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| Add rinsed garbanzo beans, water, lemon juice and spices & process |
Recipe Tips: Processing the sesame seeds separately, and then adding in the garlic and olive oil and sun-dried tomatoes to process again before adding in the garbanzo beans and water gives the smoothest consistency. So do take the extra time to process the ingredients step-wise rather than just throwing everything in the food processor all at once. Also, you may be tempted to use a lot more fresh basil rather than the dried basil and oregano. You can... but the color of the humus will be very unappetizing because the fresh basil oxidizes to brown over time. I actually found it to be better with the dried spices, and then just add a few fresh basil leaves (roughly chopped) at the end for that fresh basil taste. Go easy on the dry spices though, as the flavor intensifies the next day in the fridge.
Enjoy!
Yields 6 servings
Ingredients:
- 6 to 8 whole sun dried tomatoes, reconstituted (about 1/3 c)
- 2 T white hulled sesame seeds (or 2 T tahini)
- 2 cloves garlic
- ¼ c olive oil
- 1 can (15 -16 oz) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
- ¾ c water
- 2 T lemon juice
- ¼ t dried oregano
- ¼ t dried basil
- ½ t salt (or more to taste)
- ½ t ground pepper
- 2 T lemon juice
- pinch of sugar
- a few fresh basil leaves
Procedures:
1. Chop garlic and saute with the ¼ cup of olive oil on low heat for a few minutes to take the bite out of the garlic. Do not brown the garlic. Turn off the heat and set aside.
2. Drain and rinse canned garbanzo beans and set aside.
3. In a food processor (small 4 cup one works the best), add in the sesame seeds and process until a crumbly paste forms (about 1 minute).
4. Add in the sauteed chopped garlic with olive oil and process until blended (about 30 seconds).
5. Add in the reconstituted sun dried tomatoes and process until blended and there are no large chunks of dried tomatoes (about 1 minute).
6. Add in the drained and rinsed garbanzo beans, water, dried oregano, dried basil, salt, pepper, sugar, and lemon juice. Process until smooth (about 1 minute). Taste and add more salt as needed.
7. Add in the fresh basil leaves. Process for 10 to15 seconds to roughly chop the basil. Serve with pita bread, veggie sticks, chips, etc. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.