Hummus Recipe from The Kitchen without Borders - Workman Publishing (2024)

FAQs

Why does homemade hummus taste different? ›

You may be using poor quality olive oil, compared to what they use in restaurants. You might be using a different variety of cumin. I have noticed a difference between Indian cumin and the cumin you usually get in typical western grocery stores. You might not be using enough oil.

Next, enhance the blank slate of flavor with a few squeezes of lemon juice, a sprinkling of garlic salt, a turn of freshly cracked pepper, a heavy-handed sprinkle of paprika, and a generous drizzle of your nicest olive oil. Bonus points if you have an herby olive oil on hand with a little color to it.

2. Mix in another tablespoons of tahini. And the same goes for tahini, which will make store-bought hummus creamier and more nutty with sesame.

If you've already made a batch and it's bitter, instead of throwing it out, just double the quantities of all of the other ingredients to dilute the flavour a bit… Don't worry you can freeze half if it's too much.

You might need more tahini, garlic, lemon and/or salt and very likely more chickpea water. Add a bit of each as you need, the recipe explains. "Blitz the hummus until very smooth, a few minutes at least. Don't worry about the hummus being too loose; it will thicken as it sits."

Ground cumin and salt help to make it taste amazing, and the ground cumin adds a little more spice and richness. Olive oil makes the texture of the hummus luxurious. We also drizzle over the top of the swirly hummus when serving.

We use a simple pantry ingredient that we all have in our kitchens instead of the traditional tahini – peanut butter! Peanut butter is more readily available in many kitchens, making it a convenient substitute for tahini in a pinch.

Baking soda: Adding baking soda to the chickpeas helps make the legume easier to digest, softer, and makes them easy to peel. Don't skip this ingredient! Lemon juice: I never suggest using pre-bottled lemon juice, but I especially urge you not to in homemade hummus.

In fact, tahini is one of hummus' main ingredients, along with chickpeas and olive oil. That's why our favorite dip can be so rich and delicious—in hummus, tahini adds smoothness to the texture, as well as a wide variety of vitamins and minerals.

Tahini is sesame butter, and to make creamy hummus, the secret is to first turn that into sesame cream! To do that, you need to emulsify the tahini in a water based liquid first. This will not happen if you just put everything into a food processor all at once!'

Is it better to make hummus with wet or dry chickpeas? ›

Dried chickpeas provide better flavor than canned. Overcooking the chickpeas in water with baking soda makes them easier to blend. Puréeing the chickpeas while they're still hot lets you use a blender instead of a food processor for smoother texture.

Chilled Temperatures: Cooler temperatures help stabilize the emulsion, so using chilled cooked chickpeas and cooking water will give a thicker texture to the hummus. I like to let it rest covered in the refrigerator for an extra hour to help it get thicker and creamier. Remember to stir the tahini well before using it.

Sometimes just an extra pinch of salt can transform a bland hummus into a terrific hummus where all the flavors come together perfectly.

You will definitely notice that the hummus is spoiled when you see mold growing on it. The less obvious may be that the hummus offers an unpleasant, off-odor and sour smell. This hummus may also taste sour if you decide to try it. Our recommendation is: when in doubt, always throw the food out.

A: Many packaged hummus brands are pretty healthy – the basic ingredients are chickpeas, tahini (sesame seed paste), olive oil, garlic and lemond juice. But making it at home allows you to control the sodium, calories and nutrients. It means you can also play with the taste.

Store-bought flavor and texture disappointments aside, the math in favor of making my own hummus is reason enough. (Put simply: it's cheaper.) Learning how to make hummus is so easy, delicious, and well worth it. You can get very serious about making hummus from scratch.

The real secret was to first cook the chickpeas — dry — with a touch of baking soda. This step roughs up the exterior of the beans and encourages the skins to slip off. (The skins, hummus making veterans agree, create those small grainy lumps in the finished product.)

If you find the hummus too thick, add some of the reserved cooking liquid and thin until you get the desired texture. Taste the hummus and add more salt, if needed. Spoon and spread the hummus into a shallow serving bowl (or two of them depending on size), building up the sides a little.