Cooking is an art-form.
Recipes are general guides when it comes to cooking - baking on the other hand is more of a science and recipes need to be followed exactly.
Cook the peas, mash them then add a wee bit of your spices/herbs mix and taste, add a wee bit more herbs and spices, taste again...
EXAMPLE: if the recipe calls for a tablespoon of crushed garlic, put in about 1/2 tablespoon mix it in, then taste the product.
If I was doing it I would slow cook the chick peas a day or two before making the hummus. I would bring the pot to a boil, stir and then simmer for several hours. I have pots with snug lids, to improve snugness I use ten pound dumb-bells that sit on top of the pot lid.... This sorta pressure cooks the contents. It works very well with lentils, driving the seasons deep into the lentil.
I would use a clove garlic in a recipe calling for 2 cloves and half the salt in the cooking of the peas. Let the peas cool and mash/mill them and set them in the ice box for at least over night. With purred foods its best to use a bit of saran wrap/cellophane and press that down on the top of the puree, pressing out as much air as possible for storage over night.
Letting it sit over night allows the flavor of the garlic and salt to really get soaked into the peas.
Then the day of hummus making I would mix in the tahini, oil, the rest of the garlic and whatever other seasonings called for. Mixing a little at a time in, tasting as I go. And one doesn't have to stop at two cloves of garlic (as example) if you like a stronger garlicky taste then my all means add more garlic.
Or salt or whatever herb/spice you are using.
Quote:garlic and olive oil and you can't just eat them raw
Yes you can - raw garlic tastes different from cooked garlic. Cooking garlic presents more sweet to the flavor.
Oils don't need to be cooked. In fact the flavor of an oil can change drastically just by heating it up and 'cooking' it. Even incorporating a hot food into a recipe that is served cool (like hummus) can cook an oil sufficiently to change its taste
As for buying/using oils - any oil, figure your oil has 6 months life in it. I only buy 3 months worth of Olive oil - which around here means a small bottle. Dark bottles (dark green, dark brown) are better for storage of oils. If you are getting an olive oil in a clear bottle its already pretty cheap to begin with.
Light, Oxygen and Heat speed up the process of turning oil rancid. A dark bottle reduces the amount of light, storing in a cool dry place, say the floor of your pantry is is best. There is not much you can do about oxygen - except to not shake your bottle (thus incorporating air into the bottle) and keeping the cap on tight when storing.
As for your garlic, I would strongly suggest using a garlic press over a food processor.
In fact there is nothing in the hummus recipe I can think of that you would really need a food processor for.
If your chickpeas are cooked enough, then an old fashioned food mill would most likely work far better at mashing those suckers than a food processor.