It’s healthy, vegan, gluten-free, and contains whole protein.
The hummus recipe is quite simple, but it takes time and patience to make the perfect dish.
Hummus is a very popular middle-east dish made mainly from chickpeas.
Handling and cooking the chickpeas requires a long time as they must be very soft so the hummus paste will be smooth.
The good news is that you can pre-make the chickpeas and store them in the freezer until the time you wish to make the hummus.
Ingredients for about 5 Servings
- ½ kg of dry chickpeas
- 2 peeled garlic cloves
- 1 flat teaspoon cumin powder
- 3 teaspoon salt
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- ⅔ cup raw tahini
- Lemon juice squeezed from 2 fresh lemons
- Chopped parsley, for decoration
It’s All About The Chickpeas
The process of soaking and cooking the chickpeas is the crucial part of the recipe if you want the hummus to be perfect.
Wash the chickpeas well in a strainer, and soak them in a bowl filled with water.
Make sure to cover the chickpeas with a large amount of water, as they absorb lots of it and swell.
Leave the chickpeas in the water for at least 20 hours.
After 20 hours transfer the chickpeas to a strainer, wash well and put in a pot.
Boil the chickpeas in water, again add a large amount of water as it’s long cooking and most of them will evaporate during the process.
This amount of chickpeas you should cook in something like 3-4 liters of water.
Make sure not to add anything to the water, like salt for example, or the chickpeas will never soften.
When the water is boiling, a white foam will create, remove it, lower the flame, and cover the lid.
It takes about 3-4 hours of cooking for the chickpeas to become soft enough for making the hummus.
Check them every once and awhile, take one chickpea from the pot, and try to crush with your fingers.
If it crushes easily, almost melts between your fingers, it is ready.
You should also see that there’s enough water in the pot if the chickpeas are not yet ready and all the water evaporated- add some more water, boil on a high flame, lower the flame again and continue on cooking until the chickpeas are ready.
When the chickpeas are ready, let it cool form about 15 minutes.
Separate the chickpeas from the water you used for the cooking, as you’re going to use this water for making the hummus.
Making the Hummus
Put the chickpeas in a food processor with a little water from the chickpeas cooking, about ¼ cup.
Grind for 1-2 minutes, add ¼ cup of the cooking water, and grind for 3 minutes.
Add the rest of the ingredients and another ½ cup of the cooking water and grind for about 5 minutes until a smooth and not too solid paste is acquired.
Add salt, and more water, if needed, and grind again for 1 minute but be careful not to add too much water!
If the paste is too diluted there’s no going back.
And that’s it, your hummus is ready!
Serve the hummus on a plate, sprinkle a little olive oil, a little cumin and paprika on top and chopped parsley.
Bon Appetit!
Check other recipes for chickpeas on my blog.
