Quick & Easy Green Pea & Mint Hummus Recipe
Growing up, my parents led a pretty hectic social life. And by that, I don’t mean that we never saw them. Rather, it was the complete opposite. We always attended dinners with their friends or our family. Never holed up in our rooms ignoring the “adult party”. If our friends came over, the parents always stayed to have a drink with us before letting us get on with our thing. Some people may feel that it’s intrusive way to live but, for us, it was the only normal we knew.
Weekdays or weekend had no bearing on my parents plans – they always had a large circle of friends, in fact various circles, and we always had people over. Some for a meal and some to stay. And my parents always made it to work on time, irrespective of how late they stayed up. I have to admit that it has slowed down a little for them, ever since my dad retired from work, but the house is still always open for guests – family and friends alike, and even friends-of-friends. There’s always likely to be snacks in the pantry, food in the fridge and a full bar.
My brother and I often brought friends home unannounced, after school, college, work or even after a night of partying in town. If we knew nothing else, we knew we could raid the bar and pantry and continue the party at home.
The by-product of all this hostessing was that I became mom’s right-hand-girl for appetisers, salads and desserts. Leaving her to concentrate on main course. She saw that I enjoyed playing around in the kitchen and trying to new things, so she was only too happy to share the burden! Much before I learned how to make regular dal-chawal, I became better than her at the small stuff. Which is saying a lot because my mom’s a phenomenal cook. And I’m not just saying that because she’s my mother.
Hummus was always one of my favourites in the list of dips and spreads. We tried pretty hard to buy some off-the-shelf whenever we got a chance but nothing ever seemed to work well. Either it was not fresh-enough, or it had too much garlic and Indian spices. So I just started making my own – I used my bua’s recipe as a starting point and fine-tuned it as I went along. (Here’s a quick link to a Hummus recipe I put up ages ago. It has a single, old photo, but the recipe is legit and it’s the one I still use.)
Sometimes, though, one doesn’t have the time or advance notice to soak chickpeas overnight. At times like that, I like to make this Green Pea and Mint Hummus. It follows a similar recipe and process, except that I use blanched green peas instead of boiled chickpeas. I don’t know about you, but I hate shelling peas. It’s such a long, arduous process and it drives me mad. So frozen peas is my answer – I almost always have a bag of peas in the freezer, so this dip is a no brainer for me!
The best part about this dip is that it doesn’t require any advance notice or preparation. Although you would never know that by tasting it. It makes for a sophisticated party dip with minimal time and effort. Serve it up with pita bread, or top baguette slices with it to make a bruschetta style snack.
So without much further ado, here’s how I made it.
What I used:
(Makes about 3 cups of hummus)
2 cups frozen shelled peas, brought to room temperature (you can use fresh peas as well)
1 cup, loosely packed, mint leaves
1 tbsp tahini (here’s how you can make your own tahini)
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lemon (approx 2 tbsp)
salt, to taste
Olive oil, to drizzle
Paprika, to sprinkle as garnish
Mint sprig, to garnish
Here’s how I made it:
Got my ingredients ready…
I set a pot of water, with salt, to boil. Once the water came to a rolling boil, I dunked the peas it.
Once the water returned to a boil, I gave the peas about 3 minutes before draining them and reserving about a cup of the salted water. After rinsing them under running cold water, I placed the peas, minced garlic, mint leaves and 2-3 tbsp of the reserved salted water in my blender jar and gave them a quick whiz until coarsely mashed.
I then added the tahini + lemon juice + 2 more tbsp of the salted water and gave it another whiz until almost smooth.
I like a little texture in my hummus so I never puree it all the way until smooth, but you should blend until you reach the desired consistency. You can use the reserved salted water to aid the blending process, but use it sparingly and just enough to aid the blending, else the hummus will become runny.
Finally I checked and adjusted the salt and that’s it. We’re done!
I emptied out the hummus into a serving bowl, drizzled some olive oil over it and garnished it wit a paprika sprinkle and a mint sprig. (Can you tell that I love mint garnishes?)
Serve with some pita, crackers or baguette slices for a delicious party appetiser.
Easy peasy. Pun intended.
Do you have a favourite hummus recipe? Or a hummus variant that you like? Leave me your comments below to share.
Liked this recipe? Try some other dips and spreads from the archives:
Hummus, Tahini, Fresh Mango & Bell Pepper Salsa.
Same time, last year:
One Year Ago: Homemade Chai Masala Powder
Two Years Ago: Kashmiri Kahwah
Three Years Ago: Atta Biscuits (Indian Eggless, Whole Wheat Biscuits)
Four Years Ago: Mulligatawny Soup
[wpanchor id=”pea”]Recipe for Green Pea & Mint Hummus | Printable Version
- 2 cups frozen or fresh shelled peas
- (if using frozen, bring them to room temperature)
- 1 cup, loosely packed, mint leaves
- 1 tbsp tahini
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- Juice of 1 lemon (approx 2 tbsp)
- salt, to taste
- Olive oil, to drizzle
- Paprika, to sprinkle as garnish
- Mint sprig, to garnish
Equipment Used:- Heavy Bottomed Saucepan
- Blender
- Set some water and salt to boil in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Once it comes to a rolling boil, add in the shelled peas.
- Allow the water to return to a rolling boil and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and rinse under running cold water, reserving about a cup of the salted boiled water.
- In your blender, place the peas, mint leaves, garlic cloves and 2-3 tbsp of the reserved salted water. Give it a quick whiz until coarsely mashed.
- Add the tahini, lemon juice and another 2-3 tbsp of the reserved liquid, or as much as you need to puree the peas. Make sure you add the water sparingly and just enough to aid the blending process, else the hummus will become runny.
- Taste and adjust the salt if required and blend until almost smooth, but retains a little texture.
- Transfer to a serving bowl, drizzle some olive oil and garnish with a sprinkle of paprika and a mint sprig.
- Serve with pita bread, pita crisps, crackers or baguette slices.
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