Description
Silky smooth and creamy hummus that you’ll fall in love with. Great as a breakfast, a snack or accompaniment to your lunch or dinner. Perfect inside a wrap, as a dip, tossed through pasta or noodles, or in your favourite nourish bowl!
Ingredients
Equipment
- Bowl (for soaking)
- Medium saucepan, stainless steel or ceramic
- Slotted spoon
- Colander
- Small knife, for the garlic
- Lemon juicer
- Food processor or high-speed blender
- Spatula
For the chickpeas
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons / 210g dried chickpeas
- 4 cups / 1 liter water, for soaking
- 5 cups / 1.25 liters water, for cooking
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (aka bicarb soda)
- 1½ teaspoons salt, divided
For the hummus
- ⅓ cup / 85g hulled tahini
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- ⅓ cup / 80ml fresh lemon juice
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
- ¼ cup / 60ml cold water, plus more as needed
To serve (optional)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon sumac
Instructions
- Soak the chickpeas: In a large bowl, cover the dried chickpeas with water (4 cups). Leave on your kitchen bench overnight.
- Cook the chickpeas: Drain the soaking water. Add the chickpeas to a medium saucepan with fresh water (5 cups), baking soda (½ teaspoon), and salt (½ teaspoon). Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer over medium heat and cook for 30–35 minutes, until very soft. To check, lift one out, run it under cold water, and squeeze it between your fingers. It should collapse easily.
- Remove the skins: Most of the skins will float to the surface as the chickpeas cook. Skim them off with a slotted spoon, top up with a little water, and skim again. Repeat until most are gone. For any stubborn ones, rub the chickpeas gently between your palms and the skins will slide off. Don’t skip this if you want silky hummus.
- Blend the chickpeas: Drain the chickpeas, setting a couple of tablespoons aside for the topping. Add the rest to your food processor and blend for about a minute, until you have a smooth, stiff paste.
- Add the remaining ingredients: Add the tahini (⅓ cup), garlic (2 cloves), lemon juice (⅓ cup), the remaining salt (1 teaspoon), and cumin (¼ teaspoon), if using. Blend on high for a few minutes, pausing to scrape down the sides.
- Loosen with cold water (optional): If the hummus is looking a little thick, with the processor running, pour in cold water (¼ cup) in one steady stream until the hummus is light and fluffy. Add more, a tablespoon at a time, if it’s still thick.
- Serve: Transfer to a bowl and spread out with the back of a spoon, creating a spiral or a well. Top with the reserved chickpeas, a generous drizzle of olive oil, and a sprinkle of cumin and sumac.
Notes
Dried chickpeas: If you don’t have time or can’t find dried chickpeas, you can use canned chickpeas instead. (Just note that you won’t get the same results.) Add the drained chickpeas to a pot with 5 cups / 1.25 litres of water and ½ a teaspoon of baking soda. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for around 15-20 minutes, until the chickpeas are super soft. From there, follow the rest of the instructions as per the recipe.
Tahini: Use hulled, not unhulled. Unhulled is too bitter for a classic hummus.
Use a non-reactive pot. Baking soda reacts with aluminum, which can discolor the chickpeas and give them a metallic taste. Stainless steel or ceramic is best.
Cooking Time: The cooking time will vary depending on how old the dried chickpeas are. The older they are, the longer they will take to cook. So please keep that in mind if they don’t look like mine at the cook time recommended above.
Food processor: A high-speed blender works well. An immersion blender will also do the job. Traditionally it’s made with a mortar and pestle, which gives you a thicker, coarser hummus.
Hummus is freezer-friendly. Simply add it to an airtight container – leaving about an inch of space at the top, as the hummus will expand as it freezes. It will be fine for around 2-3 months in your freezer. To defrost, pop it in your fridge overnight. You may get a thicker consistency, and can fix that with stirring in a bit of cold water. You can also store it in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Time poor? If you love the flavors of hummus but don’t have the time to make it, try my Warm Whole Chickpea Hummus (Musabbaha) recipe instead.
- Diet: Vegan
