Chiff and Fipple Forums

Receipe for Classic Hummus

2 cups of cooked chicks peas aka garbanzo beans
3/4 cup of Tahini
3 or more cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of lemon juice
1/3 cup of cold water (or more or less as needed)
2 tablespoons of good olive oil (other oils will not taste as good...)
1 teaspoon of salt (more of less to taste)
1/3 teaspoon of paprika or pinch of black pepper (optional)
a pinch of ground sumac (optional, and the middle eastern type not the American type with is mildly toxic.)

Serves lots.

First...Get yer hands on a decent food processor. Doing this much blending by hand is very labor intensive. Cheap food processors tend to perish quickly with regular hummus or chutney production. I've killed several machines before investing in a Black and Decker "Power Pro 2". Very handy device!

Insert ingredients a bit at a time then blend the heck out of everything, adding water as needed to achieve a smooth consistancy similar to sour cream dip. A hint from my grandmother, if you find your hummus is too sharp add a touch of honey.

Other spices that I've used to favor hummus are cumin ( usually a 1/2 teaspoon or more to taste) and cinnamon. Some like to add a little bit of olive oil on top when serving, this too is optional. The variations are endless, but I like to keep it traditional.

That's pretty much it. Serve with warm pita bread. Makes a nice meal with a salad of greens or in combination of other mezzes and of course is a great side dish to a main course. Have breath mints handy if you plan on playing flute afterwards!

Chad

Publix(a regional supermarket) carries a nice variety of hummus that strays from the traditional. Although I love regular hummus(and thanks for the recipe) it's delightful to get it with chunks of olives in it...or roasted garlic....or pesto....and so on.

At the pub I work at we serve our hummus platters with toasted ciabatta drizzled with olive oil. I eat it with bagels at home.

(So glad I found this forum! My Hummus is legendary!)

My recipe (compiled from 'net sources, and tweaked to my taste)

Combine in a food processor, the following:

2 15oz cans of Chick peas, drained (reserve the liquid)
1/4 cup sesame tahini
Juice from 2 lemons (about 1/4 cup)
3 medium cloves garlic, pressed
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano

Get as many of the ingredients as fresh as you can. I've only used the canned chick peas, but if you know how, and want to cook them yourself, have at it. Definitely juice your own lemons, and press your own garlic. Fresh oregano is better than dried, but is harder to come by, of course.

Put everything in the FP, and process using "pulse" at first to chop things a bit, then process at low speed a few minutes, scrape the mixing bowl, then at high speed to desired consistency. Ocassionally, I add some of the reserved liquid from the chick peas, or a little more olive oil, during the final hi-speed processing.
The ingredients get to know each other a little better after sitting in the fridge overnight.

Any suggestions for making these recipies in a dorm, where we're not allowed a food processor?

No food processors??? The fascists!!!!

Ah yes, I remeber such days in the dorms. I was in Milwaukee too. As a result after my first year, I lived off campus for the rest of college years.

Back then in the early bronze age, they didn't allow us to have "hot plates". I still own one, but use it for instrument making reasons. They because obsolete with the invention of the microwave.

Well... you could make your hummus the old fashioned way i.e. mixing everything first with a potato masher or something like it and then with a wisk as the bits get smaller. I used to make a Lentil hummus this way, as lentils are much easier to mash by hand. I'd chop the garlic very fine by knife first before throwing it in the mix.

My grandparents had a large mortar and pestal the size of a wok which was the low tech food processor, perhaps you could find a smaller one?

lordofthestrings wrote:Any suggestions for making these recipies in a dorm, where we're not allowed a food processor?

Traditionally it was made with a mortar and pestle. I've seen the big wooden ones, but I can't remember where.

Don't forget: in the Middle East hummus is usually served warm and fresh, to be scooped up with fresh warm pita. Learned this during 3 weeks in Israel last year and haven't served cold hummus or store-bought pitas since. Yum.

I also have a recipe for pita from an Israeli cookbook, if anyone is interested. It's fairly easy and well worth the time.

I'm eager to try the hummus recipe from Fyffer. (I even wrote it down by hand because I'm on a laptop with no printer right now, and this thread and its forum disappear and reappear at intervals that are as yet unpredictable by me!) I've never put oregano in hummus. Last summer I grew some spicy oregano in my garden -- it was really good. I bet that would be good in it.

I've never had warm hummus either.

Now I'm hungry . . . !

I can't believe it's taken me so long to venture into this very useful and informative corner of C&F.

I've never made hummus in a food processor. I've used a potato masher, an old-fashioned hand-cranked food mill, and a fork, all with good results. I like the control over the texture the potato masher gives me.

My recipe is similar to fyffer's, only I don't use oregano, and I add a pinch of cayenne.

And have you all ever tried making hummus with black beans instead of chickpeas? It's very nice that way, though not at all traditional.

Hummus is an abomination to Xantax.

Hummus is an abomination to Xantax.

Anti-garlic Infidel!

Seriously, some nice whole sage tea with hummus should fix an problems with the tummy.


Chad

My wife is into "raw food" and makes hummus with sprouted chick peas. To sprout chick peas, soak in water overnight and then drain water and allow them to sit at room temperature for a day or two until they sprout little tails. Be sure to rinse them well a couple of times a day.

Raw food contains more healthy enzymes.

Michael

Where are the poems?

KAC

Poems about Garbanzo beans could be fun. But only if you call them that. "Chick peas" just doesn't sing the same way.

Tom

WyoBadger wrote:Poems about Garbanzo beans could be fun. But only if you call them that. "Chick peas" just doesn't sing the same way.

Tom

Beans, beans
wonderful fruit
the more you eat
the more you toot.

See, even whistle related.

KAC