Each Monday, the Women of WIN are blessed with a bag of assorted groceries from St. Jude Catholic Church. The challenge is discovering recipes that will turn that weekly bounty into tasty meals the whole family will enjoy. WIN’s weekly Food Bag Recipe Challenge helps our women do that.
The challenge: Make a cool and summery recipe with dried split peas
The response: Split Pea Hummus
I like this simple recipe because it uses items I typically have on hand: jarred garlic paste, extra virgin olive oil and bottled lemon juice – and not tahini (sesame paste), which I rarely have, and that is in most other hummus recipes. It tastes great, too, just like traditional garbanzo bean hummus. The only negative is having to simmer the beans for a half hour or more until they are soft and taste “done.”
Split Pea Hummus
Serves 8, 145 calories per 2 heaping tablespoon serving
1 cup dried split peas
1 garlic clove or ½ teaspoon jarred chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
Sort and wash peas. To a medium saucepan, add 2 cups water, salt, and garlic. Bring to a boil, then stir in dried peas. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 25 or 30 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Cook until peas are tender – or even mushy — but taste “done.”
When peas are soft, let them settle in the pan and spoon off any excess water on top. In a food processor or blender, combine peas, olive oil, lemon juice and cumin. Pulse or blend until the mixture reaches the desired smoothness. Stop blending occasionally and use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the processor or blender.
Spoon into a serving bowl and serve at room temperature with fresh vegetables, pita chips or thinly sliced toast wedges.
