Hummus - Trial #1

The past week or so, I've been having this unprecedented craving for hummus, so I've made about five batches of the stuff.  As I've mentioned before, I love hummus and I'll eat it warm with a spoon!

But every time I've made it, I've been guessing at the proportions of ingredients.  It always turns out tasty, but it's extremely time consuming to stir in the ingredients, taste, add more of something and repeat.  So after making a batch almost daily for a week, I want to be able to throw everything in a food processor and go.

So today, I made a batch of hummus again, and have written down the approximate proportions.  I say approximate, because today was the first time I used dried chickpeas instead of canned; and I find there's a funny taste from the baking soda, and I'll have to work that out at a future time.

I use sesame oil instead of sesame butter (tahini) because, first, that's what we have at home, and second, I really can't taste the sesame flavour of the tahini.  Sesame oil has this rich, toasty flavour that I just adore!  Some say it makes for a "lighter" feeling hummus, too.

I also use roasted garlic by default in hummus; if I want the bite of raw garlic, then I'll add some, but I really prefer the mellow, nutty flavour of roasted garlic.



Hummus from Dried Chickpeas - Trial #1

Soak: overnight
Cook peas:  1 hour
Active work: about 20 min


Overnight Soak:

• 1 cup chickpeas, dried
• 2 cups water
• Large bowl or measuring cup

Chickpeas:

• the soaked chickpeas (approx 2 to 2.5 cups now) 
• 4 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Software:

• the cooked and drained chickpeas
• 1 to 2 Tbsp roasted garlic
• 10 Tbsp fresh water
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 5 tsp olive oil
• 2 to 3 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
• 3 tsp smoked paprika 

Hardware:

• Immersion blender or food processor (some way of turning the chickpeas into a puree)
• spatula

Method:

Soak the chickpeas:  Inspect peas for any pebbles, twigs, that sort of thing.  Rinse well.  Soak overnight in a vessel large enough to contain the peas and water.

Cook the chickpeas:  Drain peas.  Boil the fresh water in a large pot or saucepan.  Add the salt, baking soda and peas.  Cook approx 1 hour, or until peas are tender.  Drain, rinse and don't reserve the liquid (it has that icky baking soda taste).  Make the hummus while the peas are still warm.

For the hummus:  In food processor, puree all the ingredients, scraping down the sides as needed.  You may have to adjust the water or lemon juice to get your desired consistency.  I like a consistency like fluffy mashed potatoes.

...this is just a first run; I hope to make improvements to this recipe in the future.

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