As you may have gathered, I’m kind of obsessed with pulses–and not only because they’re nutritionally intense, versatile, and delicious; they’re also aesthetically pleasing. Oddly, my favourite legumes to eat are probably the least attractive of all the pulses: the mundane chickpea and the ever-dull lentil. However, my favourite–aesthetically speaking–has to be the orca heritage bean. I’ve never been able to get my hands on any of these little beauties, and, for all I know, they taste like crap, but they are lovely to look at….

The closest thing I’ve been able to find is the more pedestrian black-eyed pea. It’s no orca bean, but it is lovely in its own way….

Other than my vegan Hoppin’ John Salad, I rarely come across recipes that call for black-eyed peas exclusively, but I decided the bag of dried peas in my pantry was calling my name today, so I thought I’d try them in a quick hummus.

Since I hadn’t soaked them, I did a quick soak in the Instant Pot:

Quick Soak: Place one cup of dried black beans in the IP, cover with four cups of water, and one tsp salt (which prevents the beans from bursting). Bring to a boil (by hitting “saute”) on the pot. Close the pot and set to 2 minutes on high. Do a SLOW quick release by releasing the steam in spurts. If it foams up, just leave it for thirty seconds. Drain and rinse the beans and they’re ready for any recipe!

After you’d done the quick soak, you’re supposed to cook the quick-soaked beans, but every time I try this, the beans are soft and ready after the two minutes. The one exception (so far) is chickpeas (those tenacious little buggers hang onto their structure FOREVER).

Now you’re ready to make…

Black-Eyed Pea Hummus

Throw the following in the Vitamix:

• the quick-soaked black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed
• 6(ish) cloves of garlic
• 2 heaping TBS tahini
• 12 capfuls of lemon juice (I make it so often that I’m too lazy to get out the tablespoon)
• 2 tsp Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base (if you don’t have this, just add some salt)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika (optional, but gives it a nice smokey flavour)
• 1/2 tsp cayenne (optional, but gives it a bit of heat)
• water (you decide how much)
• freshly ground pepper
• salt to taste

Blend like hell in the Vitamix. The key to good hummus is the smoothness of its texture, so keep that blender on forEVER. Once it’s super smooth, check the texture: if you like your hummus thinner (which I do), add a bit more water until it’s the consistency you like.

Then blend it like hell again. Check it for saltiness and add more salt if you need to!

This turned out very well. It’s not QUITE like chickpea hummus, but it’s still delicious, particularly with a bit of avocado.

I made some quick flatbread on the grill and had it for lunch–with a bit of the beet hummus and mushroom pate from a few days ago.

And the song of the day is Ida Maria’s “Stella”–an homage to our own dear Stella, who enjoyed the black-eyed hummus and flatbread even more than I did!!