Hummus

Here is my own recipe for making Hummus from scratch. It’s based around one cup of dried chickpeas to make it easy to scale—I typically double this, which results in about a liter of hummus.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried chickpeas
• 5-6 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2-3 tablespoons of freshly-squeezed lemon juice (about half a lemon worth)
• 1/3 cup (80ml) of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon of whole cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon of Indian red chili powder
• (optional) 1/2 tablespoon of pine nuts

Procedure

1. Soak the dried chickpeas in water for 6-8 hours or overnight.
2. Drain and rinse the chickpeas.
3. Peel the garlic cloves and put them through a garlic press or otherwise mince them.
4. In a pot, combine the chickpeas, plenty of water, and the garlic. (Note: I no longer add salt at this stage; adding the salt later makes it easier to get consistent results.)
5. Bring to a low boil and simmer for about 2 hours. By the end, the chickpeas should be very soft. (Check occasionally and add water if too much evaporates away.)
6. Drain the water (save some to add back later) and take off the stove.
7. Blend the chickpeas (I used a stick blender) and leave them to cool for about ten minutes.
8. Add olive oil and lemon juice and mix them in. Mix in water as needed to get the right consistency.
9. Lightly roast the sesame seeds in a dry frying pan over high heat until fragrant or slightly darkened, stirring constantly to avoid burning. Add them to the mixing bowl.
10. Do the same with the cumin seeds, roasting briefly until the fragrance increases or they start to pop.
11. Blend the mixture again to break up and mix in the sesame and cumin seeds.
12. Add chili powder and mix it in. Add salt to taste.
13. (optional) If using pine nuts, roast them in the frying pan until fragrant and beginning to brown, stirring to prevent burning. Chop up and crush the roasted pine nuts, then add them as a garnish.

Serving

For best results, serve the hummus cold. It will taste better after a night in the fridge than right after you finish—the flavors blend together a little better as it sits.

This hummus even freezes well and tastes just fine when thawed, in my experience.