Burned Bean Hummus

I serve my hummus with a generous amount of olive oil, lemon juice and cilantro.

Smoke and spice make these white beans an unexpected success

I’m not going to pretend that I didn’t burn a bunch of beans.

This story goes back a little while. On a mid-August trip to Budapest, I came across a bag of fat, chunky white beans that looked like giant fava at the Central Market. They took forever to cook, unsurprisingly, while boiling. I tried then during a recent dinner to avoid boiling them altogether, and let the beans sit in the oven all day with water, olive oil, salt and aromatics while I worked—and I thought that this would be a fail-proof way to get them plated at the end of the day.

Dead wrong. Those beans were charred and blackened, and somehow still a bit hard in the center. But from utter failure comes inspiration. I noticed that despite their sad state, the flavor was incredible. The skin had beautifully absorbed the oil and crushed chili flake and spices I’d added, and the deep brown char made the taste strangely addictive.

So here comes the hummus. Evidently the form and texture of the beans were gone, but I wanted to capture that unexpected burst of flavor. Into the blender with more water, more oil, juice from a whole lemon and out came a bean spread that looked, well, intended. It was wonderfully complex—the smoke and spice play against the thickness of the beans. I garnished it with more lemon juice, olive oil and cilantro leaves.

I’ve tried this recipe with chickpeas as well, the key ingredient of an actual hummus, and charring them in the oven works nicely. I encourage you to try with any dried beans that you like (except for red beans, because they tend to be on the sweet side).

I suppose this recipe raises a couple of questions: is white bean hummus a thing, and is hummus Jewish? The first question is easy: yes, because I’m making it a thing and we can do whatever we want in the kitchen. The second question gets tougher. Whether hummus comes from Mizrahi Jews or Arab kitchens, I’m not going to wade into that debate because I’m not a historian and it’s not even my culture. But what I can say is that I grew up with a ton of plastic-packaged hummus bought from Stop & Shop, it was sloppy-wet gross and making it at home with good ingredients is revelatory.

Finally, here’s the recipe for my burned bean hummus, where you don’t have to really burn your beans (like the absolute maniac that I am)—but instead, just lightly char them in the oven with intention.

I did not add tahini, another classic hummus staple, because it wasn’t necessary with all of the spices and I wanted to keep the spread super light (but why not if you like it). I did however add cooked-down shallot, which I find has less of an aftertaste than onion, and garlic cloves. Serve with slices of crusty baguette. Store it easily in the refrigerator with a dash of olive oil and lemon juice on top.

And if I pass through Budapest again, I may go for a lighter bean.

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Serving: Up to 10 people as an apéro

Ingredients:

For cooking the beans—
1 lb dry chick peas
1 shallot, peeled and halved
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 tsp chili flakes
2 1/2 tsp cumin seeds or 2 tsp ground cumin (optional)
2 tsp paprika (non-spicy) (optional)
2 tsp Kosher salt
2 bay leaves (fresh or dry), and rosemary and/or thyme
1/2 cup olive oil
Water - until beans are covered

For blending—
Water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
Salt and pepper to taste

For serving—
Cilantro, chopped
Squeeze of lemon juice
Dash of olive oil

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Add all ingredients into a baking tray or Dutch oven and mix. Add water until beans are covered. Cover and put into oven and leave it alone for 1 hour.

2. Take beans out from oven, they should be brown and lightly charred and most of the water should have evaporated. If not soft yet, add some water and let the beans cook a little while longer.

3. In the blender, put in the beans, the cooked-down shallot and garlic, whatever water is left along with olive oil, lemon juice and seasonings to taste. Add water until the beans are just barely covered and extra olive oil if desired.

4. Blend lightly until smooth and serve as recommended.