Hummus

Paul Lynch
Sides, Appetiser

I prefer my hummus smooth, with a definite taste of tahini (as well as lemon and olive oil). This recipe was loosely based on one from Serious Eats.

  • 225g dried chickpeas (you can switch for 2 x 400g cans of chickpeas simmered with the vegetables, in place of the cooked ones, but the dried ones are a lot better)
  • 2 teaspoons (12g) baking soda
  • 24g salt
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 small stalk celery
  • 1 small carrot
  • 2 medium cloves garlic
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 350ml Tahini Sauce With Garlic and Lemon (see below)
  • Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving
  • Za’atar, paprika, warmed whole chickpeas, and/or chopped fresh parsley leaves, for serving

Soak the chickpeas overnight with 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp salt. Drain & rinse.

Bring the beans to a boil for ten minutes, with onion, carrot, celery, 2 cloves of garlic, bay leaves, plus 1 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp salt, in 1,400ml water. Then reduce to a simmer, and cook until very soft, about 2 hours. Reserve the cooking water. The cooking time is highly variable according to the age of the beans, so test often.

Remove the onion, celery, and bay leaves. Liquidise the beans, carrot, garlic, with a little of the cooking water. Very carefully, to the texture of a very thick milkshake - can dilute with cooking liquid if required.

In a bowl, mix with the tahini sauce; season to taste and allow to cool.

Tahini Sauce

  • 1 whole head garlic, broken into individual unpeeled cloves (about 20 cloves)
  • 160ml fresh juice from 3 to 4 lemons
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (2g)
  • 300g tahini paste
  • Cold water
  • salt

Blend the garlic cloves with the lemon juice and strain. Mix the liquid with the sesame paste and ground cumin. Add water to loosen up, season.