Looking for ways to incorporate more fermented foods into your diet? Middle East meets Far East in this mashup of hummus with umeboshi , Japanese-style pickled plums.
- 8 oz./225 g dried chickpeas
- filtered water
- ¼ cup plain kombucha or pickle brine
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 to 1½ lemons (enough to make 5 Tablespoons freshly squeezed juice)
- ⅓ cup tahini, stirred well
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3-4 umeboshi, with shiso leaves
- ¼ cup umeshu (plum vinegar)
- Soak the chickpeas overnight in enough water to cover them by 2 inches. Add kombucha or pickle brine to soaking water.
- The next day, drain, rinse and cook beans on stove, simmering 45 to 60 minutes.
- Drain cooked beans, and let cool.
- Add beans, salt and garlic to the bowl of a food processor. Take it for a spin.
- Add lemon juice and umeshu. Take it for another spin.
- Remove pits from umeboshi and dice finely, along with shiso leaves.
- Add tahini, umeboshi, and shiso. Process until it starts to become smooth.
- Drizzle olive oil into food processor while spinning.
- Transfer to a bowl and serve. Due to the high protein content, these are relatively perishable (compared to most other recipes on this site!) Will keep for refrigerator for 3 days. It will get funky (NOT in a good way) after that!
First I soaked dried chickpeas overnight and then cooked them.
Then I added them to a food processor along with some fresh diced garlic and salt and gave it its first spin. Then I add water and fresh squeezed lemon juice and gave it another spin, then tahini gave it another spin, and then I begin to drizzle olive oil into the food processor.
Now this is where we get to add the umeboshi, a Japanese salted pickled plum dish packed with umami and used to flavor other dishes. Umeboshi is often fermented a year or longer; this batch was from two years ago. I chop up the plums, removing the pits and I also pulled some shiso leaves (which fermented with the plums). Then I add these to the hummus and then give it another spin until it’s incorporated. I tasted it along the way and decided I could add one more plum then I felt like it needed a little more flavor, so I added umeshu, which is the brine that the umeboshi expressed when they were being processed and salted prior to fermentation.
Inspired by Alton Brown’s “Hummus for real” recipe.
