Saturday, May 05, 2012

Wild Garlic Hummus Recipe

Wild garlic hoummus / Ramson hoummus / Karulauguhummus

The wild garlic season has began here in Estonia. For almost a fortnight I see people foraging for the pungent wild leaves in a nearby forest, and I've been picking a small brown paper bag full of leaves twice myself. The other day I was browsing on Pinterest for lovely wild garlic ideas, and came across this lovely recipe for wild garlic hummus on Shaheen's blog Allotment2Kitchen.

I used my regular hummus recipe and simply added a generous handful of wild garlic leaves. The result was a vibrant green dip/spread, that had a wonderful garlicky element, but its Lebanese/Israeli heritage was still there.

Note that wild garlic is also known as ramson (Allium ursinum). It's closely related to wild leeks or ramps (Allium tricoccum). Very generally speaking, the first is common in Europe and the latter in North America. You can easily substitute one for the other in this (and other Nami-Nami's wild garlic recipes).

Wild Garlic Hummus 
(Karulauguhummus)
Serves four

400 g canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 handful fresh wild garlic leaves, rinsed
couple of spoonfuls of water
4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Drain the chickpeas and place to the food processor with the rest of the ingredients. Blend until you've got a smooth paste (or slightly coarse, if that's how you prefer your houmous). Taste for seasoning - if you wish, add some more lemon juice or salt.

Excellent with toasted pita bread, or on a slice of toast, or spread on crispy crostini or as a dipping sauce with some crudités. We enjoyed ours with some Georgian bread, pictured.

More Wild Garlic recipes:
Wild Garlic Pesto with Almonds @ Nami-Nami
Wild Garlic Pesto with Pinenuts @ Nami-Nami
Wild Garlic Tzatziki @ Nami-Nami
Mashed Potatoes with Wild Garlic @ Nami-Nami
Wild Garlic Butter @ Nami-Nami
Ramson-Almond-Pesto  @ Küchenlatein
Creamy Wild Garlic Soup @ Cinnamon and Thyme
Wild garlic, courgette and mint soup by Angela Hartnett

More hummus recipes:
Harissa-spiked hummus @ Nami-Nami
Beetroot Hummus @ Nami-Nami
Hommus with pomegranate syrup and tahini @ Anissa Helou
Basil hummus @ Simply Recipes
Hummus en fuego @ 101 Cookbooks
Roasted jalapeno and lime hummus  @ The Kitchn
Beet Hummus @ Chocolate & Zucchini

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have this in my garden and, whilst I usually shred some leaves and mix them in with mashed potato, the idea of Hummus is very tempting and I do have a can of chickpeas...

Cinnamon and Thyme said...

What a wonderful wild garlic hummus :). I looove wild garlic.
Thank you for including my recipe in the post :).

Greetings,
A.

ScienceMel said...

That looks A-MA-ZING!!!

Pille said...

Toffeeapple, I have included ramson leaves in my potato mash as well (link at the end of the post).

Cinnamon & Thyme - you're welcome! I've still got some left, so can make another few lovely dishes before the season ends. (And the season, of course, is way too short).

Melinda - thank you! As I said, you can easily use ramps instead of ramson leaves - the flavour will be very much the same.

Andrew said...

I planted some wild garlic in the allotment; nothing came up this year but hoping it takes a while to get established...

Ziemlichschoen said...

Beautiful! And great idea.

Shaheen said...

I am so glad you made it and enjoyed it. Thanks for the link to my recipe, its most appreciated. I also make a beetroot hummus, and its fabulous.

Jeff @ Cheeseburger said...

This will be excellent as a sandwich spread and fries dip.

Farmgirl Susan said...

Yum! This looks wonderful Pille. And so does that bread! Do you have a recipe for it?

Pille said...

Andrew - wild garlic can be pretty picky re: where it grows or not. I do have a plant my garden, but it's easier for me to drive for 5 minutes and pick my own..

Ziemlichschoen - thank you!

Shaheen - I've got an excellent beetroot hummus recipe myself :)

Jeff - great idea!!!

Susan - not yet. It's a Georgian "puri" bread - a very simple yeast and wheat flour bread, ideally cooked in a clay oven. I'll look around for a recipe and give you shout when I find one!!

Gawan said...

Looks really lovely. However, hummus does not have 'Israeli heritage'. Please don't assist Israel in its cultural appropriation and its attempts to erase Palestinian culture.