Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus

Since I now have a mini garden in my backyard I decided to make a cilantro jalapeno hummus to try some of my peppers. The jalapenos weren't very big so I used to two smallish ones, one really tiny red one and a serrano for the extra heat. There are so many recipes out there for hummus so I just picked one I had around for awhile. I didn't make any real changes to the recipe besides the fact that I couldn't find tahini paste, well actually I didn't look very hard. I should say they didn't have tahini paste at Trader Joe's but they did have a tahini sauce which i thought would suffice, and it did!

Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus

Ingredients

1/3-1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1-2 jalapeno peppers, ribbed and seeded (depending on desired flavor)

1 clove garlic, peeled

3 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup water

6 tbsp. tahini or tahini sauce from TJs

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 (14 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 tsp. salt1/4 tsp. cumin

Pinch of cayenne pepper ( large pinch if you like it extra spicy )

Directions

Combine the cilantro, jalapenos, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients have been finely minced.

In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and water.
In another bowl, whisk together the tahini and olive oil.
Set aside. Scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl and add the chickpeas, salt, cumin and cayenne.

Process until almost fully ground, about 15 seconds. Scrape down the bowl.

Add the oil-tahini mixture and then continue to process until smooth and creamy, about 15 seconds, scraping down the bowl as needed.

Scrape down the bowl again and with the machine running add the lemon juice-water mixture in a steady stream through the feed tube. Blend for 1 minute, scraping down the bowl as needed!

Transfer the hummus to a serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let stand until the flavors meld, at least 30 minutes. Enjoy with whole wheat pita bread, chips or veggies!