Hummus

We tested a few different hummus recipes and found that Mark Bittman’s had the best balance. Early on we made the hummus from canned chickpeas, but we wanted to see if there was a difference in the flavor if we started from dried. (Which we decided is much better.) Most articles referenced Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbook “Jerusalem” for his approach to cooking chickpeas. We have adapted our recipe to account for both approaches.

Ingredients

• 1½ cups dried chickpeas
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 6½ cups water
• ¼ cup tahini, with some of its oil
• ⅛ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove peeled garlic, to taste
• Juice of ½ lemon, plus more as needed
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ½ Tbsp ground cumin

Directions

1. The night before, put the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover them with cold water, at least twice their volume. Leave to soak overnight.
2. The next day, drain the chickpeas. Place a medium saucepan over high heat and add the drained chickpeas and baking soda. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. (Do not add water yet.)
3. Add the water and bring to a boil. Cook, skimming off any foam and any skins that float to the surface. The chickpeas will need to cook between 20 and 40 minutes, depending on the type of freshness. Once done, they should be very tender, breaking up easily when pressed between your thumb and finger. Drain the chickpeas.
4. Put the chickpeas, cumin, tahini, oil, garlic, and lemon juice in a food processor, sprinkle with salt and pepper and begin to process.
5. Drizzle with a little olive oil as needed, if purée is too dry. Adjust seasoning to taste and serve.