We keep homemade hummus in the fridge at all times. It’s an easy and healthy snack, and it tastes delicious with eggs or as a spread on toast with avocado or tomatoes. Since we use it so often, we like to play around with the flavours. Adjusting the ratio of the tahini, water, and lemon is an easy way to find the consistency and flavour you like, but also adding things like cumin or roasted red peppers can be a nice way to change things up! I like my hummus heavy on tahini and mild in salt. I prefer it to be rich, creamy, and a catalyst for other flavours, but I find store-bought often overpowers.
If you’re going with canned beans, skinning the chickpeas will make for a creamier texture. You don’t have to do this, but I definitely recommend it. That being said, the process of skinning each one individually is doable but tiresome. So, even though it might seem like more work, using dried chickpeas, soaking them overnight and cooking them for approximately 20-40 minutes, is low maintenance in comparison. Plus, they honestly do taste SO much better. If you choose to take this route, the skins will release on their own and you can scoop them out of the water as they do. At the end of the day, it’s all about preference.
Hummus
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Dried Chickpeas, 2 cups, if canned
- 1 Tsp Baking Soda
- 6 Cups Water
- 1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
- 4 Medium Garlic Cloves
- 1/2 Cup Tahini
- 1/2 Cup Ice Cold Water
- 1 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1/3 Cup Parsley, chopped
Instructions
- This technique of soaking and cooking chickpeas comes from Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbook, “Jerusalem: A Cookbook”. A fantastic cookbook, I might add. This hummus recipe is an adaptation of his basic hummus, to which I made some small adjustments to fit my taste. I like to either drizzle or fold in olive oil at the end for texture and flavour, but this is optional.
- IF USING DRIED CHICKPEAS, START HERE…
- In a bowl, cover chickpeas with twice their volume of water. Let soak overnight.
- After about 12 hours, heat chickpeas and baking soda over high heat, in a saucepan. Cook and stir for approximately 3 minutes, before adding 6 cups of water to the pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and let cook, removing skins as they float to the surface. After approximately 20-40 minutes, the chickpeas should be soft and very easy to crush with your fingers. Check them frequently as they cook, within this timeframe.
- IF USING CANNED CHICKPEAS (PREFERABLY SKINNED), START HERE…
- Pour 2 cups of drained chickpeas into a food processor and blend until smooth. If you have extra chickpeas, adjust tahini/lemon/water ratio slightly or reserve them to fold into the hummus at the end of the process, to add some dimension to the texture. Continue to run the food processor, adding ice cold water, lemon juice, garlic, tahini paste, and salt, in that order. If you have a finicky food processor or are using a blender, I find this helps to keep the hummus smooth, making it easier to mix. Taste and adjust flavouring to your liking.
- Remove hummus from the food processor, fold in parsley, and drizzle with olive oil to serve.
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