Today's Appetizer: Edamame Hummus

Where do I begin? First off, thanks for stopping by. Second thing is...I love this picture. I mean, I took this with my phone and it came out exactly the way I wanted it to. That rarely happens for me! But enough of me sitting here tooting my own horn. What you see above is something I saw in my head and made a reality. If you have ever done that, than you know it feels pretty fucking good when you see it come about.

Let me break down what you see above. On the top right is sauteed shrimp resting on pickled red onions. Bottom right is sauteed shiitake mushrooms and Daikon radish. Bottom left is the edamame hummus with fried won ton strips. In the middle is a stripe of teriyaki glaze.

Normally, I don't get this fancy for the blog. I try and keep things clean, but low-key for the most part. When I got the inspiration to make the edamame hummus, I knew I wanted the finished product to be a bit more refined. And by "bit", I mean a lot. But before I start going through the whole process of putting this together, let me tell you how I got inspired to make this in the first place.

While at work, a coworker named Becky and I were talking about rumors. I asked if there was anything floating around about me. She said yes.

When Becky said that, I started thinking all kinds of crazy shit! Before freaking out too much, I asked what she had heard. She said "I heard that you made an edamame hummus." I laughed a little and said, "That's it?!?!" I thought for sure it would be something like "I heard someone saw you beating off in the freezer!" or something like that. Instead, it was about cooking. I guess I should be relieved it wasn't something bad, but it could of made work that much more interesting.

Anyway, I said I had never made it, but it did sound intriguing. I did want to start making more food for the blog, and this seemed like a good way to jump into it. But where do I go with soy bean hummus?

I knew I wanted to go with an Asian theme. That part was easy. But I couldn't really think of any breads that could go with it. Now I had to figure out what to pair with it.

I remembered that a sushi restaurant I like serves edamame at the beginning of each meal with a little soy sauce. This sounded like what I was feeling for this. A sort of sushi feel to it, with a few light ingredients to dip in the hummus.

After racking my brain a little more, I came up with what I wanted to do, made a shopping list, and put this all together.

As nice as that plate may look, there wasn't anything too difficult to make. And now that I look back on it, none of it really took too long to make either. But, there are a number of things to prepare. So, I'll go in order of what I made.

Since the beans were frozen, I had to boil those first.

I had the idea of pickling the onions to bring a little tart to the dish, but I'd never done it before. If those wankers on Iron Chef America can do it in one hour, I should be able do it! right...???

Pickled Onions

3/4 cup (180ml) white vinegar
3 tablespoons (50gr) sugar
pinch of salt
1 bay leaf
5 allspice berries
5 whole cloves
a small, dried chile pepper
1 large red onion, peeled, and thinly sliced into rings

Check the link for full procedure.

I didn't have the cloves or allspice, but they came out good.

While the beans were cooling, I decided to make the teriyaki glaze. It didn't take much time at all for that one to come together. I think I added too much cornstarch slurry to thicken it, but it still tasted great.

Teriyaki Glaze

1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
5 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 -2 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water

Click the link for full procedure.

I didn't have garlic powder, bud I did have the fresh stuff. I rough chopped 2 small cloves and added that to the mix. I also cut back about 1 teaspoon of the sugar. I wanted to keep a little of that saltiness. In the end, I was happy with it.

Now for the hummus. Since soy beans have such a wonderful taste, I didn't want to heavily season this. Why fuck with a good thing. I don't have an exact recipe, but I will give you my estimates.

Edamame Hummus

1lb           Soy beans
2tsp          Kosher Salt
1tsp          black pepper
1              small garlic clove
2tbs         tahini
1/3cup     extra virgin olive oil
                Water as needed

If you have never made hummus, it's easy. Throw everything in a food processor, and blend the living shit out of it until smooth. Or as smooth as it's going to get.

Now for the won ton strips. These fry EXTREMELY quick!!! Do not look away for one second! I took about 5 seconds or so for these things to finish! No bullshit!!

       Those 3 on the left are the first ones I dropped in the oil. I didn't realize how quickly they would burn. Lesson learned.

Of course we have to check for quality!

With all of this done, now it's time for the saute'!! I peeled and cubed the daikon and rough chopped the mushrooms. The shrimp I peeled and removed the vein, but left the tail on. I like the way that looks, and it serves as a handle for the shrimp.

Now, finally, it's time to plate up! I'm not sure how long this took, but I do know it was less than 2 hours. Since this was happening on a day off from work, I wasn't in a rush. Aside from the last two items, you could probably get away with knocking most of this out a day ahead.

How did it taste? For me, it was pretty damn close to what I thought it would taste like. I did overcook the shrimp a tad, but it wasn't tough as a nail either. The pickled onions brought a great balance of acidity to the rich hummus and teriyaki glaze. The won ton and diakon gave the plate just the right amount crunch to go with the softness of the rest of the plate.

The best part was mixing the hummus with the glaze. The sweet and salty of the glaze combined beautifully with the hummus. Truly a match made in heaven.

For those of you thinking about trying this, I know this might seem like a lot to take in (That's what she said). As you step back and look at the recipes, you'll realize it's nothing you haven't done before.

I can sincerely say that I'm proud of this dish. No bragging here. Just happy with what I made.

That's it for this one. I hope you enjoyed this one as much as I did. Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think. I'd love to hear what you have to say.

I'm out.

J. Miller

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