Good tasting hummus cannot be found in the grocery store. It basically all tastes like shit. The only exception I have found is Sabra, which tastes slightly less like shit. If you are doubting me at this moment, give this recipe a try and I think your mind will be changed. The recipe comes by way of Yotan Ottolenghi, the genius behind restaurant Jerusalem in London. He has a couple of cookbooks out, including one named “Jerusalem,” where the basis of this recipe comes from. The main things I love about Yotan’s hummus are its prominent tahini flavor and smoothness. It almost tastes puffy. For the recipe here, I’ve adjusted the ingredients so you can use an entire 1-pound jar of tahini, which really makes things easier though the batch is pretty big. For a smaller quantity, you have to deal with using something less than a full jar of tahini, which sucks. Tahini, no matter what, is a pain in the ass to work with, so anything you can do to make it easier, that’s what you want to do. By using a full jar, you can just dump the whole works in the food processor without having to first mix it all up to homogenize the oil and the tahini paste, and you don’t have to measure it out into a measuring cup, which you then have to scrape out as best you can and wash the hell out of afterward. Better to just use the whole jar, and then eat a shitload of hummus for the next week. I guess you can freeze it, but I haven’t tried it. In our house, this batch usually gets eaten in about 10 days, and it doesn’t go bad in that time, kept in a container with a tight lid. You’ll know when it goes bad because it starts to taste like grocery-store hummus.
Ingredients
420 grams of dried chickpeas (about 2 cups)
2 teaspoons baking soda
6 cloves garlic, peeled
106 grams freshly squeezed lemon juice (7 tablespoons), more to taste
2.5 teaspoons of salt
165 grams ice water (11 tablespoons)
Instructions
1. Weigh out chickpeas into a bowl, add water to generously cover and soak overnight.
2. Drain the chickpeas and empty into a 6-quart pan. Add the baking soda and mix, then cook and stir over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Add enough water to cover the chickpeas by an inch or two, cover and cook over medium heat for 30-60 minutes, or until very soft. Check often and remove scum and skins that rise to the top.
4. Drain and completely cool chickpeas, which now weigh about 1,000 grams, or 1 kilogram.
5. In a 12-quart or larger food processor, add garlic and pulse briefly to mince.
6. Add chickpeas and pulse food processor 3-5 times.
7. Add tahini, lemon juice, salt and half the water and start the processor.
8. While continuing to run the food processor, add remaining water a little at a time, if necessary. Check consistency of hummus closely by watching its appearance in processor and tasting from time to time. Add more water than recipe calls for if needed to achieve a super creamy consistency.
9. Turn out into a container with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate.
