Preparation time: 30 minutes | Serves: 4-6 people
My mum has a deep love for anything made with chickpeas, so homemade hummus with warm pita bread was a regular occurrence in my childhood repertoire of snacks (as you can imagine, my palate was quite refined). Mum actually made her tahini paste at home, and that combined with the freshly boiled chickpeas, lots of garlic and olive oil made her recipe the best. Anyone who came over always asked for her secret recipe, but she holds this one close (so don’t tell her I’m sharing it with you).
While mum used dried chickpeas, my shortcut, quick hummus recipe uses canned chickpeas which speeds up the process significantly. I love the basic version with lots of garlic, lemon and good quality olive oil, but I’ve included suggestions for alternate versions in the recipe notes.
Ingredients
- 1 can of chickpeas (preferably organic - remember you are eating them raw)
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2-3 cloves garlic
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2 heaped tbsps. tahini
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4 tbsp. Pukara Estate (or any other good quality) extra virgin olive oil
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Juice of half a lemon (or more, according to taste)
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1 tsp. honey/ maple syrup
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1-2 tsps. chilli flakes
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5-6 cubes of ice
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Salt, according to taste
- Sumac, Aleppo pepper and olive oil to garnish
Method
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Drain the chickpeas, save 1/2 cup of the chickpea liquid and set aside.
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Blend the chickpeas, half of the reserved liquid, ice cubes, olive oil, tahini and garlic.
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Scrape down the blender, add lemon, honey, chilli and salt according to taste. Add more of the liquid or water to get the desired consistency.
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Drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with spices. Serve with flatbread, crudités, crackers or just a spoon
Tips & Tricks
The ice cube trick
ice cubes actually stop the chickpeas from fermenting while you blend them, plus they help with the smooth creamy texture.
Use high quality tahini
Tahini is a Middle Eastern sesame paste which is used in several different recipes. I like using organic, hulled tahini for my hummus recipe.
Consider removing the chickpea skins
for an ultra-smooth hummus, remove the chickpea skins. You can place the boiled chickpeas between a tea towel and rub gently to loosen the skins, then simply pick them and discard. I usually skip this step with canned chickpeas.
Garnish just before serving
I like bringing my hummus to room temperature, then drizzling with olive oil and the spices just before serving.
