Smooth Hummus

 

I'm pretty certain I've figured out what can make people go crazy.

This hummus.

That's right.  This here hummus that I made nearly drove me crazy.

I know that I've made regular chickpea hummus on this blog before.  I generally don't repeat recipes, but this new recipe is worth it.  While the first hummus recipe was quite tasty, one of the things that drove me absolutely nuts was the texture of the hummus.  Not to compare my recipe to store-bought hummus (Heads-up: I'm going to do exactly that), but I found that I was getting some chunky hummus.  No major chunk-age, but most definitely not smooth.  Is it so wrong to have a smooth and creamy hummus?  But no matter how much I ran that food processor, the texture just wouldn't improve.  So I satisfied my hummus cravings with chunky homemade hummus.  And that was that.

Or so I thought until I read Deb's blog post a while back.  Apparently (and thankfully), I wasn't the only person facing this problem.  The culprit behind my texture woes turned out to be a part of the main ingredient itself: chickpea skins.  If you look closely, you can see a sheer outer layer to canned chickpeas.*  That layer needs to go in order to give you that super smooth hummus that I'm craving.

This leads me into the part where I wasthisclose to poking my eyes out: the de-shelling process.  Did you know that chickpea skins can and will stick to ever-y-thing?  Deb must be a de-shelling machine because she stated that it took her 9 minutes to do this.  My chickpeas took me about 45 minutes.  Is that ridiculous?  In case you're unsure, the answer is "Yes".  Yes, it is ridiculous.  However, once I started the process, I was committed. And once the hummus was made, I was glad that I went the extra mile to get exactly what I wanted.

Smooth Hummus

from Smitten Kitchen

makes 1 3/4 cup hummus

Print Recipe

• 15-ounce can of chickpeas
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, or more to taste
• 2 small cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 3/4 teaspoon table salt, or more to taste
• Approximately 1/4 cup water
• Dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
• Olive oil, paprika, pita wedges, crackers, and/or vegetables (optional, for serving)

1) Drain the chickpeas, saving the chickpea liquid to thin the hummus, if necessary.

2) Peel your chickpeas: The easiest technique is to hold a chickpea between your thumb and next two fingers, then squeeze lightly to pop the naked chickpea out. Discard the skin.

 

3) Place the chickpeas in a food processor and blend for a full minute, until powdery clumps form, making sure to scrape down the sides.

4) Add in the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and cayenne pepper (if using).  Blend until pureed.

5) Drizzle in the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the hummus is very smooth, light and creamy.

 

6) Taste and adjust the seasonings, adding more salt, lemon, and/or cayenne pepper if needed.

Deb's Note: "I do recommend that you hold off on adding more garlic just yet, however. I find that it “blooms” as it settles in the fridge overnight, becoming much more garlicky after a rest, so that even if it doesn’t seem like enough at first, it likely will be in the long run."

7) Transfer the hummus to a bowl and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or longer.  Serve with olive oil, paprika, pita wedges, crackers, and/or vegetables.

So here's the rundown, folks. While I was completely exhausted from de-shelling these daggone chickpeas, I must admit that I was mesmerized by the final product.  The hummus was light and airy and pretty much qualified as my "smooth dreamy hummus".  You know, if I had a smooth dreamy hummus... Awkward.

Anyhow, I think the next time I make this, I'll try to de-shell the chickpeas one day and whip up the hummus the next.  If I can break up the tasks, I would probably love this snack even more than I do now.  And that's saying a lot, folks.

* You can also use dried chickpeas, but that adds to the time needed to crank out this hummus.  You can take a look at Deb's post if you are super interested in doing this.