Hummus

Another batch of Melissa Clark's Stupendous Hummus, with Za'atar and olive oil on top. This was made using 1/2 cup dried chickpeas (picture 1) that was soaked overnight in water (picture 2). Then I drained and covered the chickpeas by 2 inches in fresh water in a pot, and boiled them for about 1.5 hours. In the last 10 minutes of cooking, I added 1 tsp salt. Since this was only a small batch, I removed all of the chickpea skins. The only modifications that I made to the recipe is that I left out the garlic, since I don't like the aftertaste, and I used the salted chickpea cooking water, instead of dissolving fresh salt into the dip. There was only a small amount of cooking water, since much of evaporated or clung to the discarded chickpea skins.

This was the right amount of hummus for my lunch (I worked from home today since I'm getting over a cold) and for an appetizer for William and me at dinner. Just like last time I made this recipe, I noticed that the spread got more flavorful after it was in the fridge for a few hours.

Nearly all hummus recipes use exactly the same ingredients (chickpeas, lemon juice, water or bean cooking liquid, tahini, salt, garlic, and spices (paprika, cayenne pepper, or cumin)). However, hummus can vastly differ in taste and how creamy it turns out; the difference is primarily technique, not ingredients. The techniques for better hummus that I know about are:

• Remove all (or as many as you have attention or time) skins from the chickpeas
• Dissolve all spices and salt in the lemon juice or water/bean cooking liquid first. This makes sure that the spices will mix evenly into the dip, and that the salt is dissolved. If you have to add more salt or spices later, mix it with a little bit of water or lemon juice before adding it to the dip.
• Mix the tahini with the liquids (water/bean cooking liquid and lemon juice) BEFORE you add the chickpeas. Tahini is very thick. If you don't mix it with the liquids first, then the tahini won't integrate into the dip.
• Optionally cook your own dried chickpeas instead of using canned chickpeas

Thus, the order that you should make your hummus is: Remove skins from chickpeas, save cooking water. Put water, lemon juice, spices, and salt in a blender. Blend. Add tahini. Blend. Add chickpeas. Blend. Yes, it is really necessary to do the blending in multiple steps.