Ingredient
Hummus
The difference between ordinary hummus and very good hummus is smoothness, and smoothness comes from three things: overcooking the chickpeas, removing the skins, and using far more tahini than most recipes suggest.
Getting it smooth
Chickpea skins are the main obstacle. They do not break down in a blender and they are what makes hummus grainy. Removing them is tedious but it is the single biggest improvement available.
The shortcut is bicarbonate of soda. Cooking dried chickpeas with a good pinch of it makes the water alkaline, which breaks down the skins and the pectin holding the chickpea together. They cook faster, collapse further, and many of the skins float off by themselves.
Overcook them deliberately. A chickpea that still has bite is a chickpea that will be grainy. They should be falling apart — well past the point that would be right for a salad.
And blend for far longer than feels necessary. Two or three minutes in a food processor, scraping down, with iced water added as it goes.
The method
- Soak dried chickpeas overnight with a pinch of bicarbonate of soda. Tinned work, but dried are noticeably better.
- Drain, then cook in fresh water with another pinch of bicarbonate until completely soft and collapsing — well beyond tender.
- Skim the skins and foam off the surface as they rise.
- Blend the chickpeas while still warm, on their own, into a thick paste.
- Add tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt, and blend again. Be generous with the tahini — a third of the chickpea weight is not too much.
- With the motor running, trickle in iced water until it goes pale and noticeably lighter. This is the step that transforms it, and it takes more water than you expect.
- Taste and adjust. It nearly always needs more salt, more lemon and more tahini than you first thought.
Balancing it
- Tahini
- Body, richness and bitterness. Use a good runny one — cheap tahini is bitter and grey. Middle Eastern brands are usually better.
- Lemon
- Brightness. Hummus without enough acid tastes heavy and flat.
- Garlic
- Raw garlic is harsh and grows harsher over hours. One clove, or blitz it with the lemon juice first and strain, which mellows it.
- Salt
- More than you think. Chickpeas absorb a lot.
- Cumin
- Common, optional, and best used sparingly.
- Iced water
- Lightens the colour and the texture. Not optional if you want it fluffy.
Serving it
- Spread it in a shallow bowl with a swirl hollowed out with the back of a spoon, and pour good olive oil into the well.
- Warm chickpeas, toasted pine nuts, paprika, sumac, parsley, or a spoonful of harissa on top.
- Serve it at room temperature, never fridge-cold. Cold hummus tastes of much less and is stiff.
- It thickens in the fridge — loosen with water or lemon juice before serving.
- Keeps three or four days covered, with a film of oil over the surface.
Common questions
Do I have to peel the chickpeas?
Not if you use bicarbonate of soda and overcook them, which achieves most of the same thing. Peeling gives the smoothest result.
Tinned or dried?
Dried are better and cheaper. If using tinned, simmer them for twenty minutes with bicarbonate first to soften them further.
Why is mine bitter?
Poor tahini, or too much raw garlic, or over-blended olive oil, which turns bitter when sheared. Add oil at the table, not in the blender.
Can I freeze it?
Yes, and it thaws well. Stir hard and add a little water and lemon to bring it back.