I recently realised that my blog must be the only vegan food blog in the world without a basic hummus recipe! Can you believe it? I hang my head in shame and dash off to peel my chickpeas…’WHAT?’ I hear you cry…’you PEEL chickpeas, you crazy woman?’ Yup, I’m afraid I do… 🙂
In my defence though, it doesn’t even take that long. It took me only 20 minutes to peel the chickpeas for this recipe. Plus, it’s actually quite therapeutic. I put nice music on and sit there peeling my chickpeas and talking to my cat…Is that strange?! The reason I peel them is because peeled chickpeas make a waaaayy nicer and smoother hummus! It’s really worth it, trust me.
Some hummus gurus advocate adding a teaspoon of baking soda to the cooking of the chickpeas to soften them (and make them cook faster). As I am not overly keen on increasing my baking soda intake on such a regular basis (yes, I eat a lot of hummus) I don’t actually do that.
Instead, I am a fan of using ice-cold chickpea cooking water (also known as aquafaba) to give my hummus “baby bottom smooth” consistency. It appeals to my food thrifter instinct and makes my palate happy without any need for lugs of olive oil.
HUMMUS
- 250 g / a little over 1¼ cup of dry chickpeas (3 cups cooked), soaked overnight
- 4 tbsp / ¼ cup lemon juice
- approx. 1 tsp salt, adjust to taste
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- 1-2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1/3 cup tahini, hulled
- appox. ¼ cup / 60 ml fridge-cold water
CHILLI OIL
- ½ cup olive oil (not extra virgin)
- 2-3 tbsp hot chilli flakes
- ¼ tsp salt (optional)
- Rinse your chickpeas after an overnight soak and put them into a large pot with plenty of fresh water. Bring them to the boil and simmer for about 75-90 minutes, until very tender and almost falling apart.
- To make chilli oil, bring ½ cup of olive oil to 160° C / 320° F – the oil will ripple and if you throw a couple of chilli flakes into it, they should sizzle gently (not aggressively as this will make chilli flakes burn). Take it off the heat. Stir chilli flakes and salt (if using) into the hot oil. Set aside to cool down before using.
- Once cooked, fish the chickpeas out of the pot with a slotted spoon and rinse them under a stream of cold water to help loosen the skin.
- If peeling the chickpeas, simply rub them between your hands and then slip the skin off gently with your fingers. I’ll be honest, I no longer bother with that as it’s just too time consuming.
- Place chickpeas in a food processor or an upright blender. If have a food processor with a sharp blade, it will yield good enough result. Otherwise use a blender and a tamper – which will be needed to get the mixture moving.
- If using a food processor, add tahini, lemon juice, garlic, cumin and most of the salt. Process while slowly trickling in chickpea cooking water (about ½ cup / 120 ml) until you achieve a creamy consistency you like.
- If using a blender, add ½ cup / 120 ml of chickpea cooking water, tahini, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, most of the salt and half of the chickpeas to the bottom of the blender. Blend until smooth, then add remaining chickpeas and blend some more whilst trickling in cold water through the opening in the lid. Use a tamper or stop and use a spatula to move the mixture around if it gets stuck.
- Serve with a drizzle of chilli oil, toasted bread or pita bread, olives, pickles and anything that takes your fancy. Store in an airtight container in the fridge, it keeps for about 3-4 days.