I’ve made my own hummus for years and although it doesn’t approximate the goodness of to-die-for creamy hummus of Pita Jungle’s or the Shish Kabob House, I always thought it was pretty good. But I guess it hasn’t always made the grade with everyone. I remember once, years ago, my ex-husband saying to my 90+ year old dad, while we were busy dipping Pita and veggies in my homemade hummus, “Joe, have you ever had hummus before?” My dad, busy dipping and eating, said “no.” When my ex replied, “Well, you still haven’t.” (Insert sad face icon). Well, now I finally discovered the missing, not ingredient, but method of making the best homemade hummus that’s pure delicious creaminess which rivals any out there and here is the BIG secret: You must SKIN the garbanzo beans! Time -consuming yes, but the payoff is big!
Prep time: 25 mins Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 15 ounce cooked or canned chickpeas
- ¼ cup tahini paste
- Juice of one lemon
- 2 small cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- ¾ teaspoon salt, or more to taste
- Reserved chickpea water
- Olive oil, parsley and paprika for serving
Instructions
- Drain the chickpeas, reserving the juice.
- Remove the skins from the chickpeas. I find the easiest way to do this is to pinch the chickpeas between your thumb and forefinger, with the pointy side facing your hand. Squeeze the chickpea and the skin should pop right off. Place the chickpea in the blender, and the skins in the compost or trash.
- Once all the chickpeas are skinned and in the blender, pulse until the chickpeas are in sandy looking crumbles. You may need to stop and shake the blender and/or scrape down the sides a few times.
- Add the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and salt, and blend until smooth, scraping the bowl as needed.
- Slowly add the chickpea water to the mix until the mixture can blend without catching and is completely smooth. I usually use nearly all of the reserved water.
- I like to chill the hummus for an hour or so. To serve, top with olive oil, parsley, and sprinkle with paprika.
