About seven years ago, Handsome Greg flew to New York for a terribly important marketing guy conference, and I got to tag along.
One sunny Manhattan afternoon while Greg was busy learning how to get people to buy stuff, I met up with my former roommate and current fancy friend, Jenna, for lunch in our old upper west side neighborhood. On that day, she introduced me to my new BFF, sushi.
At that point, I definitely had reservations about eating raw fish. I was afraid it would be cold and slimy and fishy (I prefer fish to taste like chicken). So my plan was to fill up on the appetizer before the sushi arrived. Jenna had ordered a bowl of tender, salty edamame, and as soon as I figured out how in the world to eat it, I was in love.
In the years following, I’d only ever eaten edamame steamed in their shells with a dusting of sea salt, just the way it was served at my fancy New York lunch – a bowl of salty edamame in front of a movie makes a great substitute for popcorn if you need a protein boost – but I was curious to try it other ways, and an edamame hummus seemed a perfect vehicle for the delicately-flavored young soy beans.
This took forEVer.
I’m not going to lie – this recipe is a huge pain in the ass to make. I spent nearly an hour peeling off all those little edamame skins. You could probably skip that step, but if you’ve got the time, and you can tolerate the tedium and potential carpal tunnel, the resulting hummus is super creamy with no lumps. I first made it for a production meeting for Those Were the Days; the team scarfed it up, but a couple folks suggested it could use a little more garlic. I tend to think it’s perfect as is, and extra garlic would overpower the delicate flavor of the edamame. So there.
Continue reading for the Edamame Hummus recipe
- 1 pound frozen shelled edamame
- ½ cup water
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons Italian parsley, chopped
- Toasted sesame seeds
- Boil the beans in salted water for 4 to 5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water until the beans are cool enough to handle. Slip off the bean skins.
- In a food processor, puree the beans, water, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, salt, cumin, and coriander until smooth. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil and mix until absorbed. Gently stir in the parsley.
- Transfer to a small bowl and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Serve with whole wheat pita wedges.
Linked to: This Chick Cooks, The Sweet Details, Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, Chef in Training, Eat at Home, I Should Be Mopping the Floor, Mom’s Crazy Cooking, Gooseberry Patch
I totally wouldn’t have the patients to deshell them all… So I’d probably go for the slightly lumpy version! Either way i bet it tastes delicious!!
If you make it without taking off the skins, let me know how it turns out! I’d try it myself, but I have texture issues.
Sounds fabulously healthy!
I simply buy the shelled edamame and “flick boom” the job is done. Sounds delish, can’t wait to create!
Actually, I did use the shelled edamame. But the individual beans have a thin skin on them, and I didn’t want that skin mucking up the texture. I’m sure it would work to leave the skins on, but I’m persnickety that way.