You don’t need chickpeas to make a great hummus. In fact, most dried beans or legumes can be mixed with enough oil to create a hummus-like dip, but this black-eyed pea hummus, made by chef-owners Omar Tate and Sybil St. Aude Tate of Philadelphia’s Honeysuckle Provisions, tastes like no other hummus you’ve ever had. Black-eyed peas, a spoonful of red miso paste, and the tangy tang of peas give this hummus an earthy flavor and a hint of umami.
Ingredients for Black-Eyed Pea Hummus
- Dried Black Eyed Peas: Be sure to rinse dried beans before boiling for 2 minutes. Leave for an hour, or skip the quick boil and fill a pot of water and leave overnight. Beans will cook just fine without soaking, but your stomach will thank you for the extra effort. Soaking dried beans before cooking can reduce the amount of gas you feel after eating them. If you want to skip starting with dried beans, 1 pound of black-eyed peas will yield 7 cups of cooked beans. One 15-ounce can of canned beans will yield about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups of beans.
- Herb and Garlic Sachets: Make a bag out of cheesecloth to hold dried herbs, bay leaves, and garlic cloves — kind of like making a tea bag so the herbs and flavorings will flavor the cooking water and beans while they cook.
- Red miso: Miso is made by mixing soybeans with salt and koji (mold spores, Aspergillus oryzae Grains such as rice and barley are inoculated with mold and fermented together with soybeans. Red miso has a higher ratio of soybeans to grains and a longer fermentation period, resulting in a deep amber color and a strong umami flavor.
