Yes, this really is an easy hummus recipe, unlike the stupid one I tried to follow that also claimed to be ‘easy’. Maybe it would have been if they hadn’t omitted two key ingredients.
I have spent years trying to make a decent hummus at home. It always feels a bit wrong to go with shop bought when all you need is some tahini, chickpeas, olive oil and garlic. But no matter which recipe I use they always turn out rubbish. I can make a brilliant beetroot and walnut hummus, but the traditional one, until now, has been out of my reach.
All because I missed out one simple ingredient that is NEVER listed in recipes.
The dumb part of it is that if I had actually bothered to look at the label of shop bought it was staring me in the face.
No matter what I do, hummus always, without failed, comes out really thick. I add more lemon juice. Dry. I add more olive oil. dry. I add even more olive oil. Still too dry.
It was only as i wrote this and dug out the ingredients list from a well known supermarket that I realised how obvious the answer was all along: Cooked Chickpeas (55%) [Water, Chickpeas], Water, Rapeseed Oil, Tahini, Concentrated Lemon Juice, Garlic, Salt.
WATER!!!!
No recipe ever says ‘add water’. All these sodding years of heartbreak. Unbelievable. It was only on a whim that I tried adding water this time.
So here is the easiest hummus recipe you will ever see.
Ingredients
2 tins of chickpeas
90 grams tahini
Zest and juice of 1 lemon (maybe 2)
2-5 cloves of garlic (according to taste)
half a teaspoon salt (more, or less, to taste)
Extra virgin olive oil, at least 2 tablespoons.
WATER!!!!
Sumac
Method
Put the entire contents of both cans of chickpeas into a saucepan, and gently simmer for around 20 minutes.
Whilst the chickpeas are heating up crush the garlic. This is completely to taste. If you are vampiric in nature, stick with 1 clove. If you are like me you will want 4 or 5.
Zest the lemon, and finely chop it.
Squeeze out all the juice and add to the mixer along with the zest, garlic, and salt.
Spoon out the entire contents of your jar of tahini into a separate bowl and mix until it is totally blended to a smooth, loose, paste. Add 90 grams into the mixer, and decant the rest back into the jar.
Once the chickpeas are cooked, drain, and add to the mixer (you can leave them to cool, if you wish. I think they blend better when hot.)
You can reserve a few chickpeas for decoration if you wish. I forgot.
Start your mixer on a low setting. Stop every minute or so and scrape down the walls (of the mixer. Your kitchen walls should be clean unless you forgot the lid). After 5 minutes you will have a thick paste.
Now you can start tasting, and adding additional flavour if you wish. A second lemon, with the the zest kept in long strips, and a big bunch of coriander will give a lovely zingy, fragrant, hummus for example. This is when you tweak the balance of lemon, garlic, salt, and olive oil to suit your palate.
The texture should still be on the dry side. Now you add the magic ingredient, hot water. Just a splash at a time as you continue to blend the mixture. Keep stopping and tasting until you are happy with the texture. I say ‘a splash’ because you don’t want to add too much and end up with a watery mess. (although that can be rescued with a little gram flour. Probably.
Garnish with a dash of olive oil and sumac, then serve with your favourite vegetables (and maybe your favourite crackers).
