5 Secrets to Perfect Hummus

I thought I was never going to write a post like this but the more I read the more obliged I feel to. I am going to tell you about perfect hummus. I mean it. I know, the originality of my intention is zero - who has not posted a hummus recipe or two with claiming reasonable perfection? Hummus is not longer viewed as an exotic dish coming from the Middle East but a simple fix of the ingredients readily available to a modern day home cook. Maybe that explains the whole deal of the wanna-be-hummus recipes out there which do not get you anywhere close to the real deal. Unlike the one I am going to share.

So what makes me so well positioned to talk to you about perfect hummus, or how do I dare? Well, I have eaten a lot of hummus and a lot of unfortunate takes on it, so I have developed an eye (or rather palate) to tell a particularly fortunately turned hummus. Also, many times I have assisted my Turkish Mediterranean mother-in-law who turns amazing hummus, a dish which they think to be their own down in the South. And then I have collected the final pieces of hummus wisdom during the recent trip to Antakya when I every day I ate plates of smooth and light hummus that at times could be confused with whipped cream.

In Antakya they have a clue about hummus since the Syria is a stone’s throw away. Antakyans eat hummus as breakfast and then again as one of the dozen starters that kick off lunch or dinner. Chickpeas were as cheap as rice there, and I wanted to fill my whole suitcase with them (before I realized we already had 20 kg of food ready to board the plane with us). We even got to try what they call Aleppo hummus that was even smoother and lighter than your regular deal because of tuzlu yoğurt (salty labne, or strained yogurt) mixed in hummus: I was enthusiastically sampling that one comforting myself with that thought it was easier on my stomach. So after all those Antakyan hummus experiences I feel obliged to let you know how to make perfect hummus, Antakya style.

1. Forget the can - cook your chickpeas

There are too few ingredients in hummus to full around with them. So we are going for high quality items here - chickpeas that have not being sitting in your pantry / on the vendor’ shelf for too long ensuring they are going to be tender when you cook them. Cook them? Yes, I can’t even imagine how the mashed canned chickpeas can be called hummus. Do you think our forefathers really did not know better than pickling chickpeas in a lot of salt and then using them for hummus when the time comes?

So it is best to cook the chickpeas: it is super easy, hands off and requires just a tad of planning. The night before soak the chickpeas in plenty of cold water (they should be well covered as they will be soaking that water thirstily). In the morning discard the water, rinse the chickpeas well, drain and cook them in plenty of water (drinking, not tap). Mine took about for 1.5 hours in covered pot or 45-50 minutes in the pressure cooker: I cooked both on the lowest heat possible. The cooking time varies depending on the freshness of the chickpeas, strength of the heat and quantity of the chickpeas, so you need to adjust accordingly.

Bonus point: cook more you are going to need and freeze (along with the liquid - more on the liquid below): you are set for any upcoming hummus making occasions as well as salads and stews that all only benefit from adding a handful of chickpeas. They keep well in the freezer for a few months.

2. Really cook them

Now you want to cook your chickpeas really well: they should be very soft but still keeping their shape and you must be able to remove the peel almost instantly. The best way to find out if they are cooked to perfection is to dish out one and try. If you have never cooked chickpeas before start tasting them after half of the cooking time passes: first they will be just a but soft but still crunchy and you will see how they will be losing their crunch slowly. Whenever I see a hummus with tiny chunks of chickpeas indicating someone was too impatient to take them off the heat before they had a chance to cook well I am crying inside. Please, have a mercy!

Don’t salt the water - it is a general rule with pulses: salt does not allow them to soften sufficiently however long you are going to cook them. Plus because we are going to use them for hummus and all the other chickpea-loaded creations where salt will be added it’s best to use them unsalted and add salt later to have better control over the saltiness of the dish.

3. Save the cooking liquid

This is the secret I have learned best. Because you learn best the rules you break. Once my mother-in-law left a few pots on the stove with brief direction about each one. As a person who never follows a direction without making a step further I did not only turned off the pressure cooker but also strained the chickpeas and discarded the water. To learn later - to much dismay - that cooking liquid left from the chickpeas is critical to the perfect hummus.

You add water as you puree your chickpeas because hummus has a tendency to thicken after a few hours and so you want it to be on the thinner side initially. So if you add the water chickpeas were cooked in instead of plain water you throw in the flavor booster (that you were about to throw in to the sink, shame upon you!). Now, some would say that this cooking liquid creates gas but remember, we discarded water chickpeas were soaked in and later we are adding cumin that somewhat combats the evil gas creating qualities of the chickpeas.

4. Peel the chickpeas

If there is another make-it-or-break-it point in making hummus it is peeling the chickpeas. Those peels are going to be very hard to mill and they will end up sticking out here and there destroying our very intention to create the silky whipped cream-like texture. After cooking I drain the chickpeas and reserve the cooking liquid. Then I wash chickpeas in a few changes of cold water to loosen up the skins due to the contrast of temperature - hot pot they have just come out of and cold water I am pouring over.

Now, time to peel. This is where you will be grateful that you have cooked your chickpeas just the right amount of time because if you did they are breeze to peel. Take a chickpea with the index finger and thumb and pressing slightly at the point closer to either edge of the chickpea squeeze the chickpea into a bowl and discard the skin. You will get into tempo after a few chickpeas but it never hurts to invite everybody who happened to be around the house to help.

5. Be generous with olive oil

I have rarely seen anybody adding olive while making their hummus because when you serve hummus you pour generous quantity of olive oil over it anyway. Until I came across a whole lot of recipes from Antakya there they recommend adding olive oil - abundant in this area of Turkey - into the mix. You may do that and reduce amount of cooking liquid added to the hummus or just pour over sufficient quantities of high-quality olive oil. Just like you can’t spoil kasha (boiled grains) with butter as we say in Russia you can’t spoil hummus with olive oil that gives yet another dimension to the final taste of the dish.