A Hummus Recipe
Sittin’ here at my kitchen island, waiting to make this hummus in front of my coworkers via video conference… just a normal Wednesday. I make this hummus once a week to have with lunches, as a snack, and, if I’m being totally transparent, eaten with a spoon over the sink when I’m edging on hangry. You can do it, too. Hummus is easy, totally customizable to your taste preference, and you can definitely crumble meat on top of it, Jeff. You do you - I support it and your chickpea loving (or not loving) selves.
A Hummus Recipe
A hybrid of my tinkering and a recipe by our lord and savior, Alton Brown
2 x 15oz cans chickpeas, drained but the liquid should be reserved
2-3 cloves garlic (or 2-3 teaspoons garlic paste, if you have it)
1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/3 cup tahini
4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (2-3 lemons, depending on size)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus additional for drizzling
Optional: ground sumac, toasted sesame seeds, hot sauce
Things to dip into your hummus: pita chips, baby carrots, grape tomatoes, slices of cucumber, a spoon…
Equipment you’ll need:
mesh strainer or a colander
medium-sized bowl
pot for boiling
food processor
spatula
measuring cups and spoons
bowl for your finished hummus!
Open the cans of chickpeas, dump them into a mesh strainer over a bowl to remove the liquid (but reserve that liquid because you’ll use it later on).
Boil the chickpeas on medium-high heat in a medium sized pot for ~20 minutes with the lid off. I highly suggest salting the water so as to impart flavor right at the beginning to those little buggers. Once the boiling is finished, dump them into the mesh strainer and rinse under cold water. This step of boiling them is entirely optional, but truly yields a much smoother hummus.
Roll the chickpeas around in the mesh strainer a bit and pick out the little skins that have begun to pop off the beans. Removing these also yields a smoother hummus and, again, is optional. Sometimes we don’t have patience to do this, and sometimes we do. Choose your own adventure here.
In the bowl of a food processor, dump in the chickpeas, garlic, and salt. Pulse the mixture until it forms a lump, thick paste. Scrape down the sides.
Add the cumin, tahini, and lemon juice, close the lid, and process on high for approximately 30-seconds or so. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again.
Using the reserved chickpea liquid, add about 1/4 cup of the liquid to the hummus, pulsing again until smooth. Scrape down the side of the bowl… again.
Finally, with the food processor running, stream in about 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. And (you guessed it), scrape down the sides of the bowl. Here is the most important part: taste it. Do you like the texture? If it needs to be a little thinner, add a little more of the reserved chickpea liquid. Does it need more of that creamy texture? Add a smidge more olive oil. Does it need more salt? Add it. How about a kick? That’s where your hot sauce dashes come into play. The key here is to taste your food, consider it, and then adjust. The thing is: this is your hummus, so how do you like it?
Once you’ve balanced your flavors, scoop your hummus into your bowl, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle the top with ground sumac and sesame seeds (if using), and serve. Then, eat! Fresh hummus can be kept for up to 1-week in the fridge… if it even lasts that long.
