The goal is to up your hummus game to restaurant quality! This hummus goes best with a warm, fluffy pita! While the instructions include measurements, there are so many factors , like the amount of water, size of chickpeas, intensity of the tahini, lemon juice that may require adjustments. Find your taste preferences and practice!
Boil 1 can of drained, rinsed, peeled, canned chickpeas for 15 minutes (see prep directions below) roughly 220grams. Keep in hot water (covered) until ready to blend. ** See instructions near the bottom on how to use dried chickpeas **
Peel 2-3 medium sized cloves of garlic based on preference. Be sure to use fresh garlic, remove any green stems.. Boiling the peeled garlic in water for 15 minutes can reduce some of the potency if desired.
Prepare Tahini Dressing - (1/4 cup / 2oz /70g) high quality tahini (if possible, blend with oil that comes with the jar) 1/4 cup warm water, juice of 1/2 a lemon, 1tsp of ground cumin and 1tsp of salt. Whisk together with a fork or whisk, working the tahini paste, add more water and salt to get a creamy consistency..
In a blender or food processor, combine garlic with tahini dressing (this may work better in a smaller food processor)
Add warm chickpeas, slowly, to blender, and blend! Add some of the boiling water if the slurry is too thick.. You may need a spatula to push down any solids from the sides of the blender/processor canister. The end result should be creamy and smooth. Adjust for lemon and salt.
Serve in a bowl , scoop with a spoon, and create some grooves to add olive oil, parsley, pine nuts, sumac , etc.
Refrigerating hummus will thicken it significantly, which you can compensate for by adding more tahini/lemon on top..
Common Pitfalls
Blending uncooked and cold chickpeas - This will lead to more water being required to emulsify, leading to a worse product. Also make sure to not use the brining liquid.
Unpeeled chickpeas - The chickpea skins provide no taste and can mess up the texture of the final product. It is a bit of a labor intensive process, but 100% mandatory for good hummus! Use your hands, pinch, mesh strainer, etc.
Not enough tahini dressing - Nobody wants a pureed chickpea, tahini brings a lot of the fat, and depth of flavor to the hummus.
Incorrect blending order - Adding chickpeas as a base, and then adding the liquids is much more challenging and will result in requiring more water/liquid to get the blend going. It will also lead to a gritty texture.
Bitter tahini - Use quality tahini! Ziyad brand is ok, anything from a Middle Eastern store should work! Tahinis have varying roasting levels, find one that you like!
Low Quality Chickpeas - Pretty self explanatory - Look for premium chickpeas (ziyad brand for example), and use "fresh" cans when possible.. You'll want to rinse away the brine before starting your hummus.
No toppings!?! - Have some fun, jazz it up, add chopped parsley, olive oil, sumac, paprika, aleppo pepper, urfa pepper, toasted pine nuts, sauteed chickpeas! Careful not to add too much olive oil (like in the picture above :( ) as it could overpower and become bitter.
Chickpea Options - Prep
Canned - Remove peels, either straight from the can, or boil with 1tsp of baking soda for 15 minutes if difficult to peel. Then, return to the boil. Cover if needed. Make sure they're boiled for 15 minutes to wash away the brine and bring to temperature for easy blending.
Dried Chickpeas - Soak for 12 hours , then boil with 1tsp of baking soda for 1 hour, then remove and peel skins.. Alternatively, if already soaked, set a pressure cooker for 7.5 minutes and pressure release for 10 minutes.
Dried Chickpeas - no soak in a Pressure Cooker - Instant Pot - High Pressure for 45 minutes, 15 minutes pressure release.
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