The Story
This weekend, a fortunate turn of events occurred when my love of creating meals from local ingredients, my new found fascination with bean purees, and inspiration from a recent gourmet meal aligned just the right way in my brain to form a cohesive thought: what would be the mid-south equivalent of hummus?
Hummus is an ancient dish with a rich history and many variations throughout the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and North Africa, but it really boils down to just three ingredients: garbanzo beans, tahini, and lemon juice. Of course, none of these Middle Eastern staples are native to America's heartland, so I needed to determine the local equivalents before I could enjoy my immigrant delicacy.
This first one was easy. Garbanzo beans are just a legume, and there are varieties of legumes grown all over the planet. The most southern legume I could think of (and conveniently so as I had some in the freezer from the last big batch I made) is the black eyed pea.
The next ingredient was a little trickier, but seemed obvious once I figured it out. Tahini is a paste made from ground sesame seeds, similar to a nut butter. What (non) nut butter was (not really) invented by famous southerner George Washington Carver? Why peanut butter, of course.
The last ingredient really stumped me at first. Lemon is a citrus fruit, so what citrus fruit grows in Tennessee? Um, none. I mean, there are citrus groves in Florida, but that's just not close enough, and choosing Florida lemons as the grand USA equivalent of lemons would really have been anti-climactic. So then I considered the qualities that the lemon juice brings to the hummus: tart flavor and acidity. What soul food ingredient could serve that purpose in my recipe? Apple cider vinegar.
The Recipe
Once I had the ingredients determined, the rest was simple: mix them together until they taste good.
1 (or maybe 2) cups of cooked black-eyed peas
1-2 (ish) Tbsp. freshly ground peanut butter
a little apple cider vinegar
salt
baking soda
- Put the peas in a medium saucepan over medium with some of the liquid they were cooked in, add a pinch or two of baking soda to break down the skins, and simmer until thick
- Combine bean paste with peanut butter and vinegar in food processor and process until smooth
- Salt to taste and enjoy with pitas and stuff
