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Ultracreamy Hummus

Source of Recipe

From "The Complete Small Plates Cookbook" by America's Test Kitchen


Recipe Introduction

"It's not hard to find a perfectly good hummus (or several) conveniently premade and packaged at the grocery store, so why go to the trouble of making your own? After one taste of this deluxe, velvety-smooth hummus, we think you'll understand. Cooking the chickpeas with baking soda helps their grainy skins slide right off to yield a luxuriously creamy texture that will wow guests used to the store-bought stuff. Tahini made with heavily roasted seeds can contribute bitterness, so choose a light-colored tahini (avoid versions that look like peanut butter)."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, rinsed
â—¦ ½ teaspoon baking soda
â—¦ 4 cloves garlic, peeled
â—¦ â…“ cup lemon juice (2 lemons), plus extra for seasoning
â—¦ 1 teaspoon table salt
â—¦ ¼ teaspoon ground cumin, plus extra for garnish
â—¦ ½ cup tahini, stirred well
â—¦ 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
â—¦ 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley


Recipe

Combine chickpeas, baking soda, and 6 cups water in medium saucepan and bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to maintain simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until chickpea skins begin to float to surface and chickpeas are creamy and very soft, 20 to 25 minutes.

While chickpeas cook, mince garlic. Measure out 1 tablespoon garlic and set aside; discard remaining garlic. Whisk lemon juice, salt, and reserved garlic together in small bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. Strain garlic-lemon mixture through fine-mesh strainer set over bowl, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible; discard solids.

Drain chickpeas in colander and return to saucepan. Fill pan with cold water and gently swish chickpeas with your fingers to release skins. Pour off most of water into colander to collect skins, leaving chickpeas behind in saucepan. Repeat filling, swishing, and draining 3 or 4 times until most skins have been removed (this should yield about ¾ cup skins); discard skins. Transfer chickpeas to colander to drain.

Set aside 2 tablespoons whole chickpeas for garnish. Process garlic-lemon mixture, ¼ cup water, cumin, and remaining chickpeas in food processor until smooth, about 1 minute, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add tahini and oil and process until hummus is smooth, creamy, and light, about 1 minute, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. (Hummus should have pourable consistency similar to yogurt. If too thick, loosen with water, adding 1 teaspoon at a time.) Season with salt and extra lemon juice to taste. Transfer hummus to serving bowl and sprinkle with parsley, reserved chickpeas, and extra cumin. Drizzle with extra oil and serve.

Serves 8 to 10
(makes about 3 cups)