Hummus

My full days of school and work have forced me back into packed lunches. It took my a while to settle on what I wanted, but hummus seems to have won out. It's easy to pack and I like being able to make a large batch on the weekend, and not have to worry for the rest of the week. Also, it allows me to use the vegetables from my garden.

I've had a "go to" hummus recipe for some years, though I can't think of why I chose it...it doesn't result in a particularly good hummus. Hoping to replace it, I did some Googling and came across a website that claimed to host not just any hummus recipe, but the hummus recipe. I scrolled through their website, watched the Alton Brown video, and decided to give their advice a try.

I followed all of their suggestions—used fresh lemon juice, finely chopped the garlic, soaked and cooked dried chickpeas with baking soda... Sadly, the results from my first try were disappointing. Although the texture was exceptionally creamy, it was too lemony (my own fault—I really squeezed the life out of that lemon). My second try wasn't great either...still creamy, but it lacked flavour. So, I adjusted the tahini, eased up on the lemon squeezing, and added a second clove of garlic. It turned out to be the best hummus I have ever made and I am happy to have a new "go to" hummus recipe.

I weighed my adjusted ingredients (for accuracy...and also because I hate cleaning measuring cups), so I'll provide that version of the recipe—I weighed the chickpeas at every step, hoping it would be somehow helpful.

Hummus
(adapted from The Hummus Blog)

Ingredients:

• 220 grams dried chickpeas (about 1 cup)/410 grams soaked chickpeas/540 grams cooked chickpeas 
• 1 Tbsp & 1/8 tsp baking soda (it really makes a difference)
• 150 grams tahini
• 2 medium sized cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• juice of 1 medium sized lemon 
• 2 tsp cumin
• water from cooked chickpeas
• sea salt

Instructions:

1. Rinse and sort the chickpeas, discarding any foreign objects or bad chickpeas. Soak for 10 hours in enough cold water to cover, plus at least 2 inches (to compensate for absorption), with 1 Tbsp of baking soda.

2. Rinse chickpeas well, cover in cold water and soak for another 2 hours. When time is up, rinse them well and pour into a large saucepan, with 1/8 tsp of baking soda and enough water to cover, plus at least 2 inches. Cook for about 1-11/2 hours, or until they are very tender (they will squish easily between your fingers). Skim off foam and floating skins as they cook.

3. Drain and reserve water; set aside. Place chickpeas in a food processor and process warm chickpeas, just to break them up.

4. Allow chickpeas to cool slightly before adding tahini, garlic, and lemon juice. Process until creamy.

5. Mix in enough of the reserved chickpea water to achieve desired constancy—hummus thickens in the fridge, so it can be thinner at this stage than you might think. I usually add about half of my reserved water. Mix in cumin and salt, to suit your tastes.