No Hummus Among Us

Another food item that I have unsuccessfully sought in Gothenburg is hummus.  Nothing fancy, just the plain kind.  I don't even eat it that often, but because I can't find it I want it more. Hummuslessness in Gothenburg surprises me a little, given the sizable refugee population from the Middle East, but they probably make it themselves at home.  Wait for it...

Maybe I can make hummus!  In fact, this week while looking for my friend Elizabeth's Friday Night Pizza Dough recipe I came across her scone recipe (mental note) and one for making hummus.  It starts with "in a food processor" which makes me laugh because while this apartment is indeed furnished with the most important items needed for living, a food processor is not one of those.  Also if I were back in the States I might be lugging up my food processor from its storage spot in the basement, which also makes me laugh.  Or maybe I sold it at the yard sale; I can't remember because I used it so little.  It often lost out to the immersion blender/chopper combo that lived right in our kitchen.  But Murphy's Law would dictate that as soon as I didn't have it I would need it, right?  And they are a lot more expensive here in Sweden.  (I have yet to find something that is less expensive in Sweden unless it's something that just isn't sold in the US.)

Desperate times call for desperate creative measures, so I decided to hand-mash the chickpeas with the heavy-duty pasta server I was given by a lovely lady named Darla.  (She and her Steve lived in this apartment before us, as it turns out!  Then they moved to another apartment before moving back to the States, but before they left she gave me two huge boxes of things that she bought to supplement the furnishings in this apartment. And a comfortable chair.  Love her.)

So I mashed and mashed to the chickpea equivalent of crunchy peanut butter (I prefer a few lumps over totally smooth), and then I remembered that my awesome friend Debora included these cracker-chips in her huge care package.  I think she got them from Costco, and my gluten-free friends should know they taste great, especially with hummus.  Homemade hummus: pretty darn good.  And in looking back at the recipe I realized I forgot the lemon juice, so it only gets better.

Also noted for later: Chickpeas can also be roasted for a healthy snack.  Thanks, Liz!