Who needs store-bought hummus? Make your own with this simple recipe
Hummus with two of my favorite hummus delivery devices: carrots and pita.
Jessica Webster | AnnArbor.com
Hummus took its time making its way to the western world. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first English usage of the word hummus wasn't until 1955. Hummus consumption in the United States has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, growing from a $5 million dollar industry just 15 years ago to the $143 million business it is today, according to a recent New York Times article.
When making my own hummus, I turned to Mark Bittman for recipe guidance, as I often do. Bittman presents straight-forward recipes while encouraging the reader to experiment with their own alterations. This recipe comes from the first, bright yellow, edition of "How To Cook Everything." My copy is starting to crack at the seams, and you can tell which recipes get the most use by the food stains on the pages.
I am a big fan of lemon juice, so I tend to go a little bit heavier on it. If you've got the time and inclination, try roasting the garlic ahead of time. I've tried this hummus recipe with both raw and roasted garlic and both are great, but the roasted garlic has a more mellow flavor profile.
I'm not crazy about cumin, so I cut back Bittman's suggested tablespoon of cumin to just a teaspoon. But if you love that flavor, feel free to use the full tablespoon.
If you're in the mood for experimenting, try adding different flavors to your hummus. Roasted red peppers, parsley, cilantro, chili peppers, spinach or sun-dried tomatoes are a few additions you might consider.
Hummus (adapted from Mark Bittman's "How To Cook Everything")
Ingredients
2 cups drained well-cooked or canned chickpeas
1/2 cup tahini (sesame paste)
1/4 cup sesame oil from the top of the tahini or olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled, or to taste; or 1 1/2 tablespoons mashed roasted garlic, plus more as needed
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin, or to taste, plus a sprinkling for garnish
Juice of 1 to 2 lemons
About 1/3 cup water, or as needed
1 teaspoon olive oil, approximately
Directions
Place everything except water and 1 teaspoon olive oil in the container of a food processor and begin to process; add water as needed to make a smooth puree.
Taste and add more garlic, salt, lemon juice, or cumin as needed. Serve, drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with a bit of cumin or paprika. Serve with vegetables, crackers or pita, or on your favorite sandwich in place of butter or mayonnaise.
Jessica Webster leads the Food & Drink section for the AnnArbor.com community team. You can reach her at jessicawebster@annarbor.com.
Comments
DFSmith
Fri, Nov 5, 2010 : 6:14 p.m.
Thanks for your kind comment, Urban Sombrero.
Urban Sombrero
Fri, Nov 5, 2010 : 4:37 p.m.
@DF Smith, thank you so much for answering. And, thank you for all the great info! I'm glad to hear you're recovering and I wish you well. :)
DFSmith
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 5:45 p.m.
@UrbanSombrero- Yes, I buy Mustard Oil at Bombay Grocers. If you wont be using a lot of mustard oil, make sure you buy a small bottle of that oil, because mustard oil goes rancid really fast- compared to the usual oils like Olive oil or canola oil, even if you cap it tight and store in a dark, light-proof cabinet. BTW, Whole Foods also carries Mustard Oil, which meets FDA standards, imported from Australia, but it is really expensive, and the detox process makes that mustard oil real bland and tasteless. BTW, mustard oil is a great oil to use on one's skin. Massage it in, an hour or two before a shower, and it will do wonders for you r skin, especially if you suffer from dry, itchy skin during Ann Arbor's cold and dry winters. :) I am recovering from brain cancer, and its aftermath, and have developed a nasty dry skin problem. During the winter months, I massage mustard oil into my skinand scalp,and then wash it off, and it seems to work better for me, than using Eucerin extra-dry formula lotion or using Aquaphor cream. The skin seems to absorb the oil real well.
Urban Sombrero
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 5:26 p.m.
@dfsmith----do you also get the mustard oil at the same grocer where you buy the garbanzos? I live right by that store---I'm just down Platt in Colonial Square. I keep meaning to get there, but haven't yet. This just may give me the kick in the pants I need.
DFSmith
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 2:53 p.m.
Being Indian, I buy dried garbanzos from the Indian grocery stores. I go to Bombay Grocers ta the corner of Packard and Platt, and buy 2 kinds of garbanzos- the more common, lighter colored garbanzos that everyone is f familiar with, and the smaller, darker skilled garbanzos that Indian people like. I soak equal amounts of both kinds overnight, and then cook them in a pressure cooker, let them cool, and use them to make hummus- and it turns out a lot tastier. The smaller, darker garbanzos are actually a lot fuller in flavor than the standard garbanzos that everyone is familiar with. I have also substituted mustard oil instead of olive oil to get a rather intense, and pungent flavored hummus.
Urban Sombrero
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 2:32 p.m.
@Jessica Webster---thanks for that. I'll definitely try a little more liquid next time. Though, honestly, I'll probably just stop trying to wing it and will use this recipe instead. I've already bookmarked this page. :)
A2Boy
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 2:20 p.m.
the best beans...ask any "Arabic Store" owner his favorite...I am partial to CEDAR brand. And the person who suggest ful....foul is amazing! I eat it every Saturday and Sunday for breakfast. I make a salsa with onions, tomatoes, finely chopped fresh parsley, and pickles. Add olive oil and enjoy with pita.
A2Boy
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 2:17 p.m.
Try this...remove top off the chickpeas can, set aside some of the water from the can, heat chickpeas in can on the stove and bring to a boil. Pour entire contents of can into a blender and add salt. While the can is heating up mix the lemon juice and tahina in a separate bowl and then pour over chickpeas and salt once you put them into the blender. I also create a paste out of one jalepeno along with a few cloves of garlic in a mortar and pestle and put into the blender as well. I "puree" or "mix" to a creamy texture...garnish with the "purple picked beets" or small morsels of lamb cooked with roasted pinenuts or regular Vlasic pickles. Pour a generous amount of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil (or like mine, pressed from my family's olive grove,) and enjoy with pita bread. There go my grandma's secrets..... Also, there is another dish called "fettet hummus" that is really delicous: http://www.foodista.com/recipe/S2X4B57K/fattet-hummus
Maple
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 2:10 p.m.
If you had skins or beans in your mixture that didn't grind up, you may have been attempting to process the beans without the liquids. You have to do them at the same time. I always throw the garlic clove in at that time too. (Actually half a clove for me.) I already mentioned that some brands of canned beans are too hard and either need to be cooked down or not used at all. I have always had success with Bush's garbanzo beans. As far as cumin, actually it is tradiitonal. In Syria they say that sprinkling cumin on one's hummus (called "musabaha" there) prevents gas after eating.
SuperFreckleFace
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 9:29 a.m.
I've made hummus before (only once) but because the canned chick peas were so hard and didn't completely grind up in my food processor I abandoned the thought of ever trying to make it again. Some good tips in this article, I'll try again!
Urban Sombrero
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 8:50 a.m.
That sounds awesome. I bet it'd be good if you used toasted sesame oil (like Trader Joe's carries) instead of the stuff that floats on the Tahini. I find it has a nice warm, rich taste. Dumb question, but do you take the little skins off the chickpeas? The last time I tried to make hummus at home, they clumped up in my mixture and I felt like I should have removed them. (I'd imagine that would be a time-consuming pain, though.)
Maple
Wed, Nov 3, 2010 : 8:15 a.m.
Beware using drained chickpeas and then substituting water. Although the can water contains the salt and preservatives, using straight water will result in a really tasteless hummus. I always reserve about half of the can water, or if you cooked the beans yourself keep the cooking water. Also beware the brand of chickpeas you use, as I have found that store-brand chickpeas are usually very hard and need to either be cooked more or avoided in favor of brand name beans like Bush's otherwise you'll end up with bean chunks in your processor that never become smooth. Al-Durra brand beans (found in international stores) have a strong, rich flavor I have not found in other brands. My base recipe is more simple. I put chickpeas, some can water, lemon juice and a garlic clove in the food processor. When that's ground up well I add the tahini and then process until super-smooth and then I adjust for taste. No extra oil needed. I simply drizzle the olive oil on top after decorating with a dusting of cumin and chili powder, then scattered with whole hummus and outlined with parsley. We eat it with bread and bites of pepperoncini, pickled turnips ("kabees lift"...they are bright pink, being colored with beets), sliced bell peppers, radish quarters, and small unpeeled Arabic cucumbers... experiment with flavor combinations by scooping up a bread-delivered bite of hummus and then taking a bite of the various vegetables and chewing it all up together. It is an incredibly healthy breakfast!