Usually when I am on a “raw food” eating plan, I just eat stuff right out of the refrigerator.  Occasionally, I will prepare a cabbage salad with lime, tomato and cucumber (a Costa Rican favorite).  Other times I might marinade some cucumber in lime juice, salt and pepper.

Most of the time though, I’m just grabbing another banana or cutting up a pineapple or mango.

This time, I thought I would look around to see if there were any recipes for raw foodists.  I found one that caught my attention.  Hummus.

I love Hummus.  It didn’t matter that I couldn’t have pita with it.  I could probably just eat it with a spoon.  But, cucumber slices sounded good.

Here’s the raw Hummus recipe:

1. Soak one cup of dry garbanzo beans overnight in 3 or 4 cups of water.

2. Drain water.

3. Add to food processor with “S” blade.

4. Add juice of one lime.

5. Add 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon cumin and 1 teaspoon chili powder (adjust later to taste).

6. Add three or four tablespoons of olive oil.

7. Process until smooth.  If it sticks, add more olive oil.  If you are trying to stock up on omega 3’s, feel free to use flax seed oil.  I doubt there is enough oil to taste regardless of consistency in the final preparation.  You could probably even sneak in some cod liver oil if needed.

8. Taste.  Add more spices to taste.  Want some real kick?  Marinade a jalapeno in lime juice overnight and then add it to the mixture after draining the lime juice.

9. Slice cucumber.  Use the cucumber slices to scoop up the hummus.  Yummy!

Later, after I ran out of cucumber and put the rest of the hummus away, I got hungry again.  I grabbed a banana and remembered the hummus.  Yep.  Hummus is great on a banana too!

-James D. Brausch