The Lowest Calorie Eggplant Hummus
Ten years ago, most people didn’t even know was hummus was. Now It’s pretty much a staple item in everyone’s refrigerators. Rumor has it that McDonalds might even start selling hummus (God, probably the most unhealthy, genetically modified hummus they can come up with). Hummus is healthy, but it definitely isn’t low calorie. Most store-bought brands contain anywhere from 60-80 calories per 2 tablespoon serving. If you’re like me, I end up eating at least four or five servings in one sitting. In which case, your “low calorie snack” has now turned into a full calorie meal.
For years, I have been experimenting with ways to make a low calorie hummus that still tastes awesome. After endless experimenting, I have come up with this recipe! This hummus has only 13 calories per tablespoon!! I think the key to this recipe is cooking the beans in veggie broth and roasting the garlic, so if you use canned beans or raw garlic, I’m not sure it will taste as good.
Ingredients
⅔ cup dried garbanzo beans
4 cups vegetable broth
6 cloves garlic
1 medium eggplant, cubed (about 6 cups cubed)
2 tablespoons tahini (optional, adds 4 calories per tablespoon serving)
3-4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 ½ teaspoons salt + more to taste
½ teaspoon coriander
½ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons packed fresh basil (optional)
Directions:
Soak garbanzo beans overnight, up to 24 hours. (During this time, rinse and renew the soaking water a few times. This helps get rid of the gas causing compounds that beans are so notorious for. After soaking, beans should be double in size.) Once soaking is complete, rinse beans thoroughly and drain. (I like to make huge batches of beans, you can freeze the extra beans in zip-lock bags for later.
Preheat oven to 400
In a large saucepan, bring garbanzo beans and veggie broth to boil, reduce heat to simmer and cover (about 30 minutes or until beans a cooked)
While the beans are cooking, on a large baking sheet, place eggplant and garlic cloves (dont remove garlic from shell until after baking) and sprinkle generously with salt. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes
Remove beans from heat, drain and set aside (do not discard the broth, you will need it for later!)
In a food processor, add garbanzo beans, eggplant, garlic, tahini (optional), lemon juice, salt, coriander, cumin, cayenne, basil and 8 tablespoons of the vegetable broth. Mix until smooth and creamy (about 3-5 minutes) you may need to add more of the vegetable broth to get your desired consistency. I used about 1 cup (16 tablespoons) total.
Makes 3 ¼ cups (52 tablespoon servings)
