Real Hummus recipe

Making hummus isn’t that hard. It’s not only a matter of recipe, though, but also HOW you make it. For that reason, our simple recipe for traditional homemade hummus, comes with a little of our hummus-philosophy.

There’s nothing like good homemade hummus. Making good Hummus isn’t just about having a good recipe, though. True, there are quantities to keep and procedures to follow, but in order to make a really good hummus you must - first of all - do it many times, preferably for years.

[Tip: Looking for a quick fix? Try one of these: The Quick Tahini Recipe, the Arbis chickpea snack or the Real Falafel recipe . These are all far less intellectually challenging].

Home made hummus. Mine.

But if you’re ready to go all the way and make real hummus, than “we have the technology”. True, it’s better to be old, wise and skillful, but this doesn’t mean you can’t make a tasty hummus the first time you try. And it will probably taste 10 times better than any packaged hummus you can buy, and be 10 times healthier as well (read more here). And with time, you will get the touch and become a hummus expert.

A hummus made right, will not make you feel heavy or bloated after you eat it. It will not make you - excuse my French - fart like crazy, either. It should go down smoothly, leaving you light and happy, and in a cheerful mood.

To solve the gas problem, BTW, you should soak the chickpeas in clean water for 10-15 hours, switch them at list once, and take off the foam that appears over the boiling water during the cooking. That’s all.

Also, washing the chickpeas well between every two stes of the making, will hekp you leave out the aftertastes.

There are lots of different hummus recipes. The recipe before you, is accurate and well tested, but feel free to experiment. Good luck!

What you’ll nead (Ingredients)
[4 large bowls of Hummus]
2 cups dried chickpea grains
1/2 cup tahini
juice from 1 squeezed lemon
1-2 garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 + 1/8-1/4 teaspoon baking soda
salt
olive oil
parsley

How do I make that into Hummus? (Directions)
[Brut: 10-20 hours. Net: 30 minutes]

1. Poor the chickpeas over a large plate. Go over them and look for damaged grains small stones, or any other thing you would rather leave out of the plate.

2. Wash the chickpeas several times, until the water is transparent. Soak them in clean water over night with 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Then, switch the water and soak for a few more hours. The grains should absorb most of the water and double their volume, more or less.

3. Wash the chickpeas well and put them in a large pot. Cover with water, add the rest baking soda and NO salt. Cook until the grains are easily smashed when pressed between two fingers. It should take around 1.5-2 hours, during which it is advised to switch the water once again, and remove the peels which float over the cooking water. When done, sieve the grains and keep the cooking water.

4. Put the chickpeas into a food processor and grind well. Leave it to chill before you continue.

5. Add the tahini and the rest of the ingredients and go on with the food processor until you get the desired texture. If the Humus is too thick, add some of the cooking water.

Serve with some good olive oil and chopped parsley.

October 14, 2006 | Filed Under The Recipes, chickpeas, Humus worldwide, Hummus | 75 Comments 

Humus in the Bible

The first documented use of chick-pees to make humus in the middle-east, is from the age of the crusaders. What few people know is that humus was also mentioned in the old testament.

On the first time Ruth and Boaz had met in Bethlehem, he offered her some humus: “And at meal-time Boaz said unto her, Come hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel in the vinegar” (Ruth 2-14).

This is a mistranslation of course. The original word in ancient Hebrew, is “Hometz”. Which not only sounds a bit like “Humus”, but also resembles the word “Himtza”. The Hebrew name of chick-pees.

True, “Hometz” in modern Hebrew is vinegar. But you don’t really think Boaz was so rude as to offer Ruth to dip her bread in vinegar, do you? Got to admit it’s more reasonable to think it was Humus (the credit for this idea belongs to the Israeli writer Meir Shalev).

October 10, 2006 | Filed Under Anecdotes, chickpeas, Humus worldwide, Hummus | 3 Comments 

Hummus or Humus?

This seems like a very logical place to start: how should I spell my favourite dish: Humus or Hummus? Wiki says it’s Humus for the band and Hummus for the food. Google finds many more occurrences of Humus though. Can it be that the band with such a name is more popular?

Well, it doesn’t matter much, since I’ve already registered humus101.com. And it’s supposed to be exactly that: a 101 blog for Humus lovers.

English, as you might have already guessed, isn’t my mother tongue. And I guess some of the people who will get here will be non-native English readers. But this should be a minor detail, assuming they will all be people who share my love for Humus (or Hummus).

Humus, in case you didn’t know, is the Arabic word for chick-peas. It is also the name of a dish, made of chick-peas, tahini (aka thina, sesame seeds paste) and a few other ingredients (a recipe will be supplied in the very near future).

In future posts, I’ll discuss the history, sociology and culinary of Humus. In this point I will only point that it is a very ancient dish, that is being eaten for at list 3000 years, and was actually mentioned in the bible.

But my main interest will be in current status of Humus on the planet. Such as places around the globe where you can eat good Humus - a subject in which those of you living outside the middle east might have more helpful information than I do.

Well, Humus is about sharing - so please share the information with the rest of us.

October 9, 2006 | Filed Under chickpeas, Humus worldwide, Hummus | Leave a Comment