Recipe: Hummus

I will be honest.  It took me some time to warm up to hummus.  It just never tasted all that exciting to me.  I could never figure out what all the fuss was about.  Eventually I met and married my wonderful husband.  We wanted to throw a party one day, and he wanted a crudité platter with hummus.  I grumbled and complained - does anyone actually eat that stuff? - but I acquiesced.  I knew I had a recipe for it, so I decided to make my own.  Little did I know that this would be the turning point for me.  I'm not sure what it was about commercial hummus that made it so distasteful to me, but homemade hummus has become one of my favorite party foods. 

 

I think that the original recipe probably came from Clifford Wright's Little Bites of the Mediterranean, but I've seen quite a few other recipes and there really isn't much difference between them.  I use canned chickpeas for convenience - you don't always know when you're going to play host to a crowd, after all.  I use more garlic than a lot of printed recipes, because I like garlic.  That's really it.  It's an amazingly simple recipe, but all sorts of people will be very impressed when you show up to a party with homemade hummus.  I most recently served it with another crudité platter, but you can also use it as a sandwich spread, a canapé topper (which will get posted another day!), a sauce for grilled meat, a dip...  The secret is to use a high-quality brand of chickpeas.  I prefer Westbrae Farms Organic chickpeas.  I've used Goya and Progresso brands and it came out okay, although not quite as good as the Westbrae.  I've also used the one brand available in my local large warehouse store which shall remain nameless; I was not pleased with those results.  In fact, there just aren't enough "e"s in eeeeuw. 

 

Hummus (Makes 8 cups; approx. $1.19/cup.)

3 25 oz good-quality canned chickpeas

3/4 cup olive oil

12 cloves garlic, peeled

1 tablespoon kosher salt, or more to taste

1/2 cup tahini

1/2 cup lemon juice

Equipment:

• Food processor
• Mini food processor.  You could probably use a blender or mortar and pestle if that's what's available to you. 
• Small bowl

1. Drain your cans of chickpeas, reserving about 1 1/2 cups of the canning liquid. 
2. Put the chickpeas into the food processor with the olive oil.  Process.
3. Add at least 1 cup of the canning liquid back into the food processor and blend to a smooth paste.  If the chickpeas are particularly dry, you may need to add the rest of the water. 
4. Put your garlic into the mini food processor with the salt and grind to something resembling a paste.  It will be very lumpy. 
5. In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and tahini with a fork or small whisk. 
6. Add the contents of the bowl to the mini food processor if there is enough room.  Process until smooth.  If there is not enough room, just add it to the large food processor.
7. Add the contents of the mini-processor to the regular food processor and process until well combined. 
8. Serve. 

Technorati Tags: Hummus,dips,appetizers,recipes,Middle Eastern food

, vegetarian food, vegan food

Comments

[Peter]

Jessica, I too used to be iffy on Hummus but now I luv it and a little cumin peps it up too!

[Helen]

It's amazing how different the home made and store bought versions are isn't it? I feel the same way about the shop bought stuff. making your own certainly is a revelation and you get to tweak it to your own taste. Yours looks lovely, nice and thick just how I like it.

[Helen]

It's amazing how different the home made and store bought versions are isn't it? I feel the same way about the shop bought stuff. making your own certainly is a revelation and you get to tweak it to your own taste. Yours looks lovely, nice and thick just how I like it.

[Christine]

I didn't like hummus the first time I tried it because it was a pre-made one. Then, a friend made hers and I've loved it ever since. I like hummus made from fava beans and other legumes too. And like you said, if you're going to use canned, Westbrae is a good brand to start with.

[Tim]

The difference between homemade and commercial hummus really is night and day. I like the look of your recipe, hummus is so simple, and doesn't need anything more.