Making Hummus

Making good on my promise,  I made some hummus this week. My goal was to make it as smooth and creamy as possible and not mess with the flavors too much, trying to keep it pure.

I researched a bunch of recipes and investigated a few techniques and decided I would have to make my own tahini paste as well.  Firstly because tahini is crazy expensive and I just don't need a quart of it.

So the tahini came first

About 1/2 cup of sesame seeds, pan toasted
plain oil

I placed the toasted seeds in the food processor and whirled them to a stiff paste before adding enough oil to make it pour-able. Once pour-able I pressed it through a strainer just to take out some of the skins. Tahini done. So easy.

Now the hummus was a little harder and took a bit longer. I had already soaked a pound of dry chickpeas overnight, rubbed them between my hands to get most of the skins off so they stayed out of my final product.

When I got home form work, I started cooking the chickpeas till tender (about 40 minutes). I reserved 1/2 of them in a freezer bag for a layer batch.

The rest when into the processor for a spin with some of the cooking liquid to thin it out a bit. All in all about 1 cup or more of the liquid. 

I added 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 peeled cloves of garlic, a little salt and the juice of 2 lemons with 1/2 the tahini paste I made. Now I really let the food processor go for a few minutes adding more liquid as needed till it was the consistency I wanted. It was smooth but not silky. I am not sure I have enough power in these tools to make silky happen. After I scooped into a bowl I got out my trusty hand blender and that took it up a level. Not perfect but darn good.  I might invest in a chinois to press it through.

Hummus

juice 2 lemons
1 pound chickpeas, soaked overnight, cooked till tender, most skins removed
2 cloves of garlic peeled
salt
1/4 cup tahini paste
Olive oil
Reserved cooking liquid