Authentic Hummus Recipe? Restaurant Quality

I always make mine with fresh chickpeas. I'm not totally sold on my recipe either, but I do use fresh.

Yes, cooking the chickpeas yourself does make a difference...the canned ones are a bit too firm. When you soak & cook the dried ones, run the cooked peas through a food mill to get rid of the "skins" (seed coat). If left in, it will make the texture more coarse/grainy than the restaurant style.

Also, use good tahini. And more of it than most recipes suggest.

Add a little celery salt and thank me later

I make hummus regularly with:

2 cans chickpeas
1/4 cup tahini
1 lemon with zest
2 toes garlic
dash of cumin
olive oil
salt

I drain the chickpeas reserving half of the juice
put all of the ingredients into a food processor. I add some of the juice from the can to keep the calorie count down, but I get it to the consistency I want with the olive oil, it usually takes about a cup.

I use this as my base recipe, sometimes I add roasted red pepper, or basil, or jalapenos, or anything you like.

Another good variation is to use black-eyes peas instead of garbanzos. Also add your favorite hot sauce if you want it spicy, or a 1/2 tsp of cayenne.

On our occasional meatless days hummus is a great source of protein.

Baba Ganoush >>>>>>Hummus

2 medium eggplants (about 2 pounds)
1/4 cup (60 ml) tahini (sesame paste)
1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice
4 to 5 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil, optional

Directions

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and turn broiler on (high heat). Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Place eggplants onto the baking sheet and prick in several places using a fork. This helps steam escape while the eggplants roast.
Broil eggplants 2 minutes on all sides. The skin will darken a little and begin to smell smoky, adding lots of flavor to the dip.
Turn broiler off, but do not remove eggplants from the oven. Heat oven to 375 degrees F (190 C). Roast eggplants 25 to 30 minutes, or until very soft. Cool 10 to 15 minutes until easily handled.
Meanwhile, combine tahini, lemon juice, garlic, cumin and the salt in a medium bowl. Set aside so the flavors meld.Baba-Ganoush-Recipe-Step-2
Split the eggplants, drain excess liquid, scrape out the flesh and add to the tahini mixture. (Discard excess liquid and skins).Baba-Ganoush-Recipe-Step-1
Mash eggplant into tahini mixture with a fork until somewhat smooth with some texture remaining. Cool to room temperature then stir in parsley and drizzle the top with olive oil.

I use a Cook's Illustrated recipe and like it a lot. Similar to those above.

I drain and rinse the chickpeas. Don't like the taste of that can liquor.

Cooks found that microwaving the chickpeas for one minute, then letting them cool back to room temp, improves creaminess.

Many say popping the skins off make it even creamier, but ain't nobody got time for that.

I might try the microwave, if I think about it. Honestly, if you turn the FP loose on it long enough...and stream in the olive oil...you'll get the creamy texture.