Basic hummus
Our food experts Fran Abdallaoui and Pamela Clark share the secret to making the perfect hummus.
Hummus is the popular Middle-Eastern dip made from chickpeas and tahini. There are many reasons to make it from scratch, not the least being that it’s easy, inexpensive and incredibly delicious. What we love is adding a twist to create some exciting new flavour combinations.
Basic hummus MAKES 3 CUPS PREP AND COOK TIME 1 HOUR
15 MINUTES (+ SOAKING TIME)
1 cup (200g) dried chickpeas 1 clove garlic, crushed
¼ cup (70g) tahini
¼ cup (60ml) lemon juice
¼ cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
1 Soak chickpeas in cold water overnight; drain. Place drained chickpeas in a large saucepan with plenty of water. Bring to a simmer over high heat; simmer, uncovered, for 1 hour or until tender. Drain, reserving ½ cup cooking water and ¼ cup whole chickpeas. Process remaining chickpeas and reserved cooking water until very smooth. Add garlic, tahini, juice and oil. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve topped with reserved chickpeas, a little extra oil and pita bread, if desired.
● If you are running short on time, use 800g rinsed and drained canned chickpeas instead of dried. Thin hummus with cold water to desired consistency. Suitable to freeze. Not suitable to microwave.
CARROT HUMMUS
● Make Basic Hummus without reserving any whole chickpeas. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat; cook 1½ cups coarsely grated carrot and ¾ teaspoon each crushed coriander seeds and ground turmeric, stirring, for 8 minutes until soft. Add carrot mixture to hummus; process until smooth. Serve sprinkled with sumac, drizzle with oil.
GREEN HUMMUS
● Make Basic Hummus without reserving any whole chickpeas. Add ½ cup each firmly packed fresh coriander leaves and fresh mint leaves; process hummus mixture until smooth.
● Serve topped with ⅓ cup crumbled fetta and extra fresh coriander and mint leaves. Drizzle with a little extra olive oil.