Hummus
Tahini and lemon whipped first, then the chickpeas, then ice water until it goes pale and light. The order and the water are the whole difference between this and the tub.
- Serves
- 6
- Total
- 20 min
Homemade hummus is usually worse than the shop version, and it's always for the same two reasons: people blend everything at once, and they don't add enough water.
Fix both and it's better than anything you can buy, for about two dollars.
Whip the tahini and lemon first, before anything else goes in. They seize into a thick pale paste, which looks wrong and is exactly right. That's the emulsion the whole thing is built on, and you cannot make it after the chickpeas are in the way.
Then ice water, more than feels sensible, blended for longer than feels sensible. The texture everybody wants is just air and water beaten into that emulsion, and the only way to get there is to keep the machine running.
For the smoothest version
Peel the chickpeas. It's tedious and it is the single biggest difference: rub them between two towels and most skins come off, then pick out the rest while you watch something.
Or, if cooking from dried, add half a teaspoon of baking soda to the cooking water. It breaks the skins down so they mostly disintegrate, and it makes the chickpeas softer, which blends smoother.
If it's not right
- Grainy: not blended long enough, or the chickpeas weren't soft enough.
- Bitter: the tahini, usually. Also raw garlic that didn't get its ten minutes in lemon.
- Stiff and claggy: not enough water. Add more, it can take a lot.
- Flat: salt and lemon, both, and more than you'd guess.
Ingredients
Method
-
**Garlic and lemon juice** in the processor first, blitzed, then left to sit ten minutes. The acid takes the raw bite off the garlic. Strain the garlic out if you want it mild.
-
**Tahini in,** and run it until it seizes and goes pale and thick. 60 seconds or so. It will look like it's broken. It hasn't.
-
**A splash of ice water,** and keep running. It loosens and goes glossy.
-
**Chickpeas, cumin and salt in.** Blend three to four minutes, which is far longer than you think. Scrape down twice.
-
**Ice water a tablespoon at a time** until it's pale, light and slightly looser than you want to serve it. It firms up in the fridge.
-
**Taste for salt and lemon.** It will want both.
-
Spread in a bowl with a spoon swirl, pool of olive oil in the middle, paprika, parsley.
Goes with
- Also good with
- Arborio Rice with Garlic, Brussels with Bacon Lardons and Balsamic, Collard Greens with Ham Hocks, Mashed Potatoes, Baked and Riced, Mushrooms with Thyme and Balsamic, Ranch-Style Pinto Beans, Roasted Brussels or Asparagus, Sautéed Spinach or Broccoli with Garlic and Ginger, Sous Vide Vegetables, Deviled Eggs
- A cousin of
- Order is the technique
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