Caramelized Onion Hummus

Hummus, the now-ubiquitous staple of crudité platters everywhere, is one of those exotic food transplants that makes me wish I could travel the world and just eat.  It’s really no wonder that it is literally everywhere you look. It’s healthy, flavourful, can be vegan/organic/gluten-free/etc. It’s also super easy to make, and you can add all kinds of flavours to it. This is a good thing, because it’s getting a little boring now, don’t you think? This a jazzy take on a new classic.

As you know by now, I absolutely love caramelized onions. (It’s also an inside joke with a friend of mine. I have this habit of changing the subject to something, ANYTHING, if the situation I’m in starts to get awkward or tense. I will literally search around frantically for something to talk about. So this one time, I’m with her in her kitchen and we have just had a conversation ten minutes prior about her caramelizing the onions in the pan. Lo and behold, another couple she has over start getting into an argument right in front of everyone. My spidey-senses of awkwardness start tingling immediately. Out of desperation, I re-bring up the caramelized onions in the pan. But this time, I raise my eyebrow and get as close as I possibly can to her face, to surreptitiously signal that I’m awkward, which, of course, was not surreptitious at all. It was one of those moments that kill the awkward situation you’re in, because it instantly becomes more awkward that you’ve just brought attention to how awkward the other people in the room are making you. It was great. Now anytime we feel uncomfortable, we talk about caramelizing onions.)

That was a rather long aside, but now you have a strategy if you find yourself in the middle of a domestic dispute this week. Now you can talk about this great new hummus recipe you’ve tried. Start by caramelizing an onion or two in a pan. Set aside.

You’ll need a can of chickpeas, olive oil, your onions, some garlic, cumin, lemon juice and plain yogurt. Traditional hummus calls for tahini, and if you wanted this to be vegan, you could certainly use tahini and up the olive oil. I happen to like my hummus very creamy, so I use yogurt in place of tahini. Use two healthy scoops for one can of chickpeas. Put all of it in a food processor or blender, and whir it up to desired consistency. It’s almost a fake recipe it’s so easy. If you are bringing this to a party or something, then I suggest putting some effort into the plating of it, just so people don’t think to themselves, “Oh great, another bloody hummus.” This one is JAZZED, so make sure you plate it up really pretty so people think to themselves, “Oh wow, that looks like regular hummus, but it must be some kind of super jazzy hummus, because there appears to olive oil drizzled across the top of it.” As Mummy would say, “Smoke and mirrors, baby!”

Enjoy!