Recipe Test: White Hummous and Edamame Hummous

So, as is the case in every test kitchen, some recipes sing and some just tank.  Neither of the ones I tested tonight sang to me exactly the way I hoped they would.  The White Hummous was a bit cloying and kind of bland.  I think that qualifies as "tank". I am thinking that white beans from a can do not work well in this preparation, so I am going to go back to the drawing board on this one and cook them from dried next time and see how that works.  Also, believe it or not a grocery store in downtown Toronto did not have fresh rosemary today, so I had to settle for dried from my pantry to test with.  The results were "meh" at best.  But I will try it again, with better ingredients and hope it flies.

The Edamame Hummous recipe, however, has potential.  But I made so many modifications to the base recipe I started with to tweak the flavours to what I wanted to taste that I am not sure that I managed to catch all the changes in the right proportions.  So, I will go back to the drawing board on this one and try it again.  I think I will trust my instincts on this one and substitute sesame oil for the tahini (sesame paste), substitute wasabi for the crushed red pepper the recipe calls for (explain that one please!), add less lemon (or maybe substitute lime? lemongrass?), and add more ginger.  I am thinking a small amount of Thai fish sauce might be interesting also, as it adds depth to an Asian dish in much the same manner as anchovies to for Italian, but you have to be careful because it is strong and can be overpowering.

We shall see what the hungry Compliance Officers at my work have to say about tonight's experiments.  Worst case, I end up with a "duo" of dips in the Xmas colours of red and green.  The beet hummous got a resounding "yes" from across the board today.