My youngest son has always loved hummus, so I thought why not make it better, healthier and cheaper than I can buy it at the supermarket. Homemade is always better…right? Well, to my frustration my first several attempts were met by a shriveled nose and a polite “I don’t really care for it.” So seriously, how hard can it be to make good hummus??? Well, several tries later I can finally say MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! I found the right combination that stopped my son in his tracks and got a “Mom, could you put some more in a bowl for me?” I seriously had a smile on my face the rest of that day!
So what could possibly make such a big difference? Not exactly a lot of ingredients in hummus. Well, it was the chick peas! Who knew that there could be such a difference in the flavor of plain out of the can chick peas. And what difference would it really make, unless you were doubting your own ability to create a tasty dish because nothing you were trying appealed to your own flesh and blood!
I was really left with no choice, but to do my own chick pea taste test. I was amazed at how different the flavor of each canned brand was. After trying multiple brands with no success (success being the two thumbs up from my 11 year old) I finally decided to prepare my own chick peas from dried.
I prefer to cook the chick peas in a slow cooker that I can just throw everything into and let do its thing. Chick peas come typically in a 16 ounce bag. They cook up to more than double that, but I choose to go ahead and cook up the entire bag knowing that I can freeze any leftover cooked chick peas for up to a month.
- 16 ounce bag dried chick peas
- 7-8 cups water (enough to cover 3 to 4 inches above the chick peas)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (totally optional, some say it helps to tenderize the chick peas)
- 16 ounces (approximately 2¼ cups) cooked chick peas
- 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated (or more if you like!)
- 1½ teaspoons Kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice (I prefer fresh squeezed)
- 1-3 tablespoons water (depends on how thick you want it...start with one and check consistency)
- ¼ cup tahini (this is a sesame paste that should be readily available)
- ¼ cup olive oil (I like to use the good stuff here because the flavor comes through)
- Start by setting your slow cooker to high temp for 4 hours.
- Add all ingredients to slow cooker, close lid and let cook for 4 hours on high temperature. When done, you will be left with more than double the amount of chick peas needed for this recipe. Take the rest and freeze them because I guarantee that you will be making this hummus again soon!
- Add one pound (I find this is about 2¼ cups) of the previously cooked chick peas to the bowl of your food processor along with the garlic and salt. Process for 20 seconds then scrape bowl. Add both the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the water. Process another 20 seconds and check for consistency. It should still be pretty thick at this point. If it is too thick, add another tablespoon or two of water along with the tahini.
- The tahini tends to settle, so make sure to stir it well before adding to the processor. Process another 20 seconds and scrape bowl before you add the olive oil. With processor on, drizzle olive oil in until blended.
- Nothing left to do but enjoy! Serve with pita chips, naan bread, carrots, cucumbers, pretzel sticks...pretty much whatever your heart desires.
My Israeli girlfriend has been pushing me ever closer to making “authentic” middle-Eastern hummus, which tends to be much thicker than the dip-like American versions. It’s hard for me to knock either style, but I have had a hard time selling Israeli-style hummus to Americans, and American-style hummus to the Israelis. The Americans can’t swallow the one, and the Israelis think the other is too watered down. Whatever. If you’re interested, we found a couple of pointers from Said*, an Israeli-Arab in Acre whose tiny restaurant brings in crowds from all over (including me, once):
1) Blenders make a creamier hummus than food processors. This is the most important distinction between the stuff you can find here and in Israel. You’ll need a really good blender. I’ve overheated my VitaMix a couple of times, so keep the pitcher less full than you might otherwise.
2) Said says to use Bulgarian chickpeas. These are smaller than garbanzo beans. Whole Foods sells them, though they don’t identify them as such. I can’t tell the difference.
3) Said also removes the chickpea skins, but this is too fussy for me.
4) Tahini from Nabulus is said to be the finest in the world — but trying getting that in the U.S.! Wherever you get tahini, the best quality is said to stay mixed in its oil; that is, the oil never separates from the rest. The “Lior” brand sold on Amazon is pretty good, but the best we’ve found is sold at the Super King supermarket chain in L.A., under the “Middle East” label. Like the rest, though, I don’t think I can tell the difference.
5) A pressure cooker speeds up the process for me, but Said would never use one.
6) Said doesn’t like “smelly” hummus, which is to say he doesn’t use garlic. I wonder what he’d do with the fusion hummus one can find at Trader Joe’s?!
* Google will translate it: http://food.walla.co.il/item/2602512
Thank you for your feedback. I agree with you, I also prefer the consistency of the hummus made in my VitaMix blender. I just found it difficult to get every last bit out of the bottom…and with hummus this good, it’s a shame to leave any behind!
Love the hummus because I had it and it tasted great.