i have never made homemade hummus.
i know, i know – you just gasped at your hand computer (or real computer, or tablet). i like hummus. no, wait, i love hummus. as a dip, it’s far superior. although i hate the flavored hummuses (that looks strange as a plural – hummusi?) you can buy at the grocery store. just give me plain hummus and some pita chips or crackers or vegetables and i’ll go nuts. and by go nuts i mean i will eat it and enjoy it in a very normal manner.
i used the smitten kitchen recipe to make this hummus, but i have to admit, against all my desires to be as fantastic as her, i just couldn’t bring myself to shell the chickpeas. i wanted to. i may have done one or two (okay three) but it just didn’t seem worth it. sorry deb, i hope you are not disappointed.
so maybe it wasn’t as lusciously smooth as the original recipe calls for, but i can accept that. i promise there is no loss in taste. to accompany my new bowl of hummus i made my sea salt and fennel crackers, and the rest is just about dipping and eating. no dinner tonight, just hummus and crackers.
- ⅔ cup dried chickpeas or 1¾ cup cooked chickpeas
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (if using dried chickpeas)
- ½ cup tahini paste
- 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2-3 garlic cloves, chopped
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½-3/4 cup water (if you are using the dried chickpeas, reserve the cooking liquid for this. otherwise just use normal water)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon za'atar
- If you start with dried chickpeas, soak them in 2 cups of water overnight. In the morning, drain the excess water and saute them in a pan with the baking soda for about 3 minutes. Bring about 3 cups of water to a boil and add chickpeas. Cook for 30 minutes, covered, until chickpeas are soft. Drain the chickpeas - but remember to reserve the liquid.
- If you start with cooked/canned chickpeas, you can skip the above part. Throw your chickpeas in a food processor and pulse until it is a fine crumble.
- Add in tahini paste, lemon juice, garlic and salt and continue to blend.
- Add water, a little at a time, until the texture of the hummus is smooth and silky (not as silky as it would be if you peeled the chickpeas, but hey, whose keeping track).
- Transfer to a bowl and top with some olive oil and za'atar and dip away.
[…] as the base, and is cooked in a pan rather than being fried in oil. stuff it in a pita with some hummus and a villager salad on the side, or stuff the salad into the pita if you want to get wild, and […]
writes falafel is a gateway food (and villager salad is just plain delicious) | Things I Made Today[…] the basics: chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. While I’m a big fan of your traditional hummus, this weekend, I wanted to spice it up a little […]
writes Golden Beet & Smoked Paprika Hummus - Things I Made Today1sumatra
writes 2subversive