My Hummus Recipe

I figured this may be a good time to share a hummus recipe, given that you can buy dry garbanzo beans / chickpeas for cheap and they last forever.

My goal to coming up with this recipe was to make an authentic tasting hummus and nothing like you'd get from the mass produced store bought stuff. I've made hummus for years but it's always come up short in some way. Finally, I think I've settled on a recipe that has the authentic taste I'm familiar with. I've borrowed from several recipes (including Shaya) to get where I am and I think I've got it pretty close to what I want.

It's key to use dry chickpeas (preservatives in the can give it an off-taste IMO) and a quality Tahini. The Mediterranean Chef, maker of Grandma's Hummus (can be found in Austin and Houston), uses this brand:
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Grandma's Hummus is some of the best I've had, so I use this brand when I'm making it. You can order it on Amazon. Luckily a local Mediterranean store carries it where I am.

Another key to making good hummus is removing the shells on the chickpeas (see link below). It's fairly easy to do.

For the spices, the measurements in the recipe are approximate. You may need to adjust the lemon and salt amount to taste.

Anyway, here is the recipe:

Hummus

1.5 cups dried chickpeas
1/2 tsp baking soda
Water to cover chickpeas by a couple inches
7 garlic cloves
¼ cup tahini
1.5 tsp Koscher salt
2 tbsp lemon juice (2 lemons)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp water from chickpea broth
Paprika - topping / garnish
Fresh (or dry) Parsley - topping / garnish

1. Soak dried chickpeas, ½ tsp baking soda, in water over night.
2. Boil chickpeas in same water for 7 minutes
3. Remove shells from chickpeas (see video). Strain water from chickpeas and place in big bowl. Fill with water and rub chickpeas between fingers to remove shells. Pour water over side of bowl to remove shells. Repeat 2-3 times. Strain all water from chickpeas.
4. Coat peas in olive oil, garlic powder, and salt in baking pan. Broil for 8 minutes. Don't char them. Just slightly brown. You could skip this step if you want...you may need to boil longer in the next step if so.
5. Add beans to pot with water about 2” above top of beans.. Add 7 garlic cloves. Boil until the peas are soft...about 12 minutes min. You can take a few out and test the softness.
6. Strain beans from water (keep for later) with slotted spoon and add to food processor. Add tahini, salt, lemon juice, olive oil, and water and blend until smooth. Add more lemon juice or salt to taste. Consistency should not be too thick since cooling will thicken. It should be a tad runny as in if you move a spoon across it barely retains shape. Mix in more reserved water by the tablespoon if you need to thin it out.
7. When plating, put a small pool of olive oil on top and sprinkle paprika and parsley on top.

Enjoy. I'm going to try my hand in making greek fava dip next.