How to make Hummus?

[MisterLove]

I love hummus and I recently tried a recipe using a kitchen robot. The final result was awful, truly unedible. The second time I tried it, I corrected the seasons and it was much better but still not good enough - it was too liquid and tasted 'raw'.

I thought the recipe was probably not right but I did a Google search and all recipes I found were raw.

This doesn't make sense to me, the recipes include garlic and olive oil and you can't just eat them raw, there has to be at least some brief cooking involved.

I once had hummus in a wonderful place called Bistro 1, near Coven Garden, London, and it was perfect, nothing like the piece of crap I did today.

[Lilitu]

Ibhave a feeling that you're using bad olive oil.

Olive oil, when bad (which usually at the supermarket is) tastes like rotten grass.

You have to buy local olive oil. It-s the only oil that wont have gone rancid once youve taken it off the sipermarket shelf

[MisterTinkles]

Ibhave a feeling that you're using bad olive oil.

Olive oil, when bad (which usually at the supermarket is) tastes like rotten grass.

You have to buy local olive oil. It-s the only oil that wont have gone rancid once youve taken it off the sipermarket shelf

Olive Oyl gone bad?

[MisterTinkles]

You might try mixing all of your spices with some high quality virgin olive oil, then cover the chickpeas in a baking dish with the oil/spice mix.....place a baking cover on the dish and bake the chickpeas on medium for about an hour.

Once they have cooled off, drain the chickpeas from any left over oil mixture.

Process the chickpeas and add leftover oil as needed, or if wanted.


And I have to say, out of all the things I will eat on this planet....chickpeas and hazelnuts are not amoung them.

[Dreamer]

As far as I know, for humus,
the only thing you need to cook is the chickpeas
and the tahini if you're prepping them yourself.


Some people buy them already packaged
to do away with the hassle.


You can cook the garlic if you'd like,
but I would think that would kill the crisp garlicyness
that's a staple in a basic hummus recipe....


[COLOR="Red"]You can add different spices or ingredients to suit your liking,
but these are the foundation ingredients for basic hummus:[/COLOR]

One 15-ounce can (425 grams) chickpeas
1/4 cup (59 ml) fresh lemon juice, about 1 large lemon
1/4 cup (59 ml) tahini
Half of a large garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for serving
1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt, depending on taste
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 to 3 tablespoons water
Dash of ground paprika for serving

Since you're probably doing something wrong
here's a video showing how to make it:

[Bowyn Aerrow]

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.

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.