Sundried Tomato Basil Hummus

My love of hummus grew from working in coffee shops/cafes that served hummus on sandwiches, with pitas, etc.  One particular cafe that I worked at made the best hummus from scratch and I often have cravings for it - especially because I can't seem to find anything as delicious in stores!  This recipe still didn't quite match it perfectly...but it came pretty close, and it was definitely better than store bought hummus I've had!  


Sun Dried Tomato Basil Hummus
Ingredients

• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons tahini 
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 (15.5 ounce) cans garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, oil reserved
• 1/4 cup finely shredded fresh basil

Directions

1. Place garlic, salt, tahini, and lemon juice into a food processor; process until smooth. Pour in the garbanzo beans and 1/2 cup olive oil; process until smooth again, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Once smooth, add the sun-dried tomatoes, and pulse until they have been chopped to very small pieces and are incorporated into the hummus. Finally, add the basil, and pulse a few times until mixed in.
2. Store the hummus in a sealed container in the fridge or freezer, drizzling some of the reserved sun dried tomato oil on top to keep it smooth and prevent it from drying out.  

I kept half the batch in the fridge to eat throughout the week (it only made it a few days) and half of it I froze so that we can take it camping with us next weekend.  It stays fresh in the fridge for about a week, and in the freezer for a couple months at least.  In my experience, it is always better fresh - but if it does get too dried out or grainy from freezing, you can add a little olive oil to make it smooth again.    

Inspired and adapted from The Acoustic Cafe, & allrecipes.com