Adzuki Bean Hummus
Yes, I LOVE hummus. How much fun is a food that is full of creamy, yummy goodness that can be eaten as a snack or a meal and that is packed with tons of nutrients to keep our bodies healthy?!? Pretty darn fun and pretty simple to prepare. While a delicious standard garbanzo bean/chickpea hummus makes my taste buds really, really happy, I am always looking for a new and exciting way to experience this tasty treat. Because I happened to have some adzuki beans on hand (which I usually use in my delicious soups), I decided that I would whip up a brand new hummus recipe that would make me smile and my honey a very happy man at dinnertime. Whenever you can eat a dish as a snack or a meal that tastes great and packs a nutritional punch, you have a winner of a dinner on your hands.
As you may know, beans are little nutritional powerhouses that are packed with protein, complex carbohydrates and iron. Adzuki beans (also called aduki beans) hang out in the realm of bean superheros, as they also contain magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese, all of which our bodies need to feel great and stay healthy.
Adzuki Bean Hummus
Appliances Needed:
Food processor
Large pot or pressure cooker (if preparing dried beans)
Ingredients:
2 cups cooked adzuki beans (see below for how to prepare dried adzuki beans)
1/4 cup tahini
1 ripe hass avocado
1/8 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup filtered/spring water
1 large clove of garlic
1 Tbs to 2 Tbs nama shoyu (begin with 1 Tbs and add up to 2 Tbs when your desired flavor is reached)
1 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cardamom
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
***Use local, organic and/or wilcrafted ingredients when available.***
How to Prepare the Adzuki Bean Hummus:
1. Process the ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
2. Taste hummus and determine if more nama shoyu is needed. If yes, add a bit more and process. If no, your hummus is ready. Enjoy!
How to Prepare Dried Adzuki Beans:
1. Measure one cup of beans (when cooked, this will yield approximately two cups of cooked beans) and carefully pour them onto a large plate. Look through the beans and throw away any discolored beans, small rocks and/or debris that might have ended up with the bulk bin with your beans.
2. Add the beans, cover with filtered/spring water and a 1″ piece of kelp (if you don’t have kelp, just omit it) to a large glass bowl and soak from eight to ten hours. It is ideal to do this first thing in the morning when you wake up or right before you go to bed. When you wake up in the morning or return home from work, your beans will be ready to cook.
3. Drain and rinse your beans.
4. Now you’re ready to cook these little beauties. Add your soaked beans and six cups of water to a large pot. There are two ways to cook your beans, with a pressure cooker or the conventional method a large pot. The cooking times for the beans are as follows: Pressure cooking time, 15 to 20 minutes; conventional method cooking time, 45 to 50 minutes.
Important Notes:
- You can eat the hummus immediately or prepare it ahead of time for a party or meal. The longer it sits, the more the flavors will meld together.
- Serve your Adzuki Bean Hummus with some non-GMO organic chips or a delicious vegetable, such as cut up cucmber, tomato, carrot and/or celery. You can get creative and use a vegetable that is not normally thought of when eating hummus. I recently used some brussell sprouts and daikon radish to take a dip into my hummus and a slide into my belly. They were both really yummy!
- If you cook dried beans, please make sure you cook your beans really, really well. You do NOT want al dente beans. Al dente beans equals gas, and that’s not fun for anyone.
- If you decide to use canned beans, one 15-ounce can equal two cups of beans. Eden Foods brand of organic beans is the only company that I know of (at this time) that uses BPA-free cans for its products. These are the only canned beans that I use and that I recommend using for the safety of you and your beloved family.
- Soaking beans makes them more digestible. Although it is not a requirement to soak adzuki beans, I do this anyway. If you forget or do not have time, you can simply add an extra cup of water to your beans when cooking them.
Fun Facts About Adzuki Beans:
According to Wikipedia:
In East Asian Cuisine the adzuki bean is commonly eaten sweetened. In particular, it is often boiled with sugar, resulting in red bean paste, a very common ingredient in all of these cuisines; it is also common to add flavoring to the bean paste, such as chestnut.
LiveStrong.com shares:
Consuming adzuki beans may offer cardiovascular benefits. Adzuki beans, like most starchy beans, are rich in a type of fiber known as soluble fiber. Soluble fiber helps lower blood cholesterol levels. In addition, adzuki beans are rich in folate, magnesium and potassium, which play a role in supporting heart health. Folate helps reduce homocysteine levels in the bloodstream. Elevated levels of this amino acid in the bloodstream may damage the lining of your arteries and increase the risk of blockages in blood vessels. Magnesium and potassium help lower blood pressure, aid in muscle relaxation and improve blood flow.
A doctor from ShareCare.com says:
In addition to supplying high levels of soluble fiber and protein, adzuki beans are packed with trace minerals. These trace minerals are utilized by the body as components of enzymes. For example, a 1/2 cup serving of adzuki beans provides almost 200 percent of the daily recommended intake for molybdenum, which is necessary for the production of an enzyme called sulfite oxidase, one of the most important enzymes in a liver detoxification pathway called sulfoxidation. Poor sulfoxidation is associated with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, and with inflammatory conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, delayed food sensitivity, multiple chemical sensitivities, and diet-responsive autism. Adzuki beans are an excellent source of fiber and protein. In addition, they are rich in B vitamins, being an excellent source of folic acid and B3, a very good source of B1, and a good source of B6 and B2. Last, they provide high levels of the trace minerals molybdenum, copper, manganese and zinc.
To your healthy and happiness!
