Homemade Hummus!

I have never made real, actual, hummus before. It was surprisingly easy, and much cheaper than my favorite brand which is now running $5 in the grocery store. I’ve had so much mediocre hummus, and there’s such variation among the different brands and what you’ll get in restaurants that I figured it was difficult to make good hummus. It’s not difficult. Mine turned out great, maybe just because I could make it the way I wanted.

I started with dry chickpeas. Or garbanzos. Whatever, I’ll use the words interchangeably in a single sentence if I don’t watch myself. I soaked them in water in the fridge all day.

Then, after work, I simmered them for just under two hours, adding salt at the end of the cooking time. They were actually done after about an hour and half, but a little too firm to make really creamy hummus.

Finally, I tossed everything in the food processor without being too specific about my measurements:

• cooked chickpeas (about 1 cup of dried beans, cooked)
• a little of the cooking water
• a clove or two of garlic
• a teaspoon or two of tahini
• lemon juice from 1/2 lemon
• olive oil, enough to make this desired consistency

That’s it. Add a little more salt if necessary. Now that I have a jar of tahini on hand, I’m looking for more ways to use it. I will say that the raw garlic was a little rough on my breath, but I’ll figure out what I want to do next time.

As you can see, I scooped the hummus from the food processor directly into a storage container, but this only lasted a few days. I can’t believe I’ve never made my own hummus before, it’s so easy to have a fresh batch of this stuff I like to spread on sandwiches or snack on with veggies or pita.