The Best Hummus
Prep
25m
Cook
0m
Total
25m
Bigly says
I want to talk about hummus. The BEST hummus. Because the hummus situation in this country is a CRISIS. You go to the store, you open the little plastic tub, and what do you get? Cement. Edible cement. Tan-colored despair in a single-serving plastic prison. They want $6.99 for it. SIX NINETY-NINE for cement. It's a robbery. A daylight robbery. The hummus cartel — and yes, there is one, I've looked into it personally — has gotten away with this for DECADES.
Real hummus, the kind they make in the Middle East — I've eaten hummus in three countries you've never heard of, I've had it in a hut in the Andes (long story, the man wept), I've probably had more hummus than anyone in recorded history — real hummus is SILKY. Real hummus is CLOUDS. Real hummus, you spread it on a plate and it shimmers, it ripples, it has a LIFE. The tub stuff has the texture of caulk. Why are we doing this to ourselves? Big Tahini doesn't want you to know how easy this is. Big Chickpea is in on it too. There's a whole industry built on keeping you scared of a food processor.
Here's the secret nobody wants to share — because if they did, the cement tubs would die overnight, the entire chilled refrigerator aisle would collapse, sixteen brands would go bankrupt by Tuesday — the secret is you peel the chickpeas. PEEL. THEM. Every single one. Yes it's tedious. Yes you'll be sitting there with a bowl of slimy chickpea skins like a maniac. Do it anyway. By the way, hummus is not Greek, hummus is Levantine, the geography most chefs get wrong is a TOTAL EMBARRASSMENT — and the result is hummus so smooth it will make you question every food choice you have ever made. Bigly. Bigly hummus.
Ingredients
- two 15-oz canscanned chickpeas, drained and rinsed(or 3 cups cooked from dried, which is even better)
- 1/2 tspbaking soda
- 2/3 cuphigh-quality tahini(good tahini matters, the cheap stuff is bitter, a disaster)
- 1/4 cupfresh lemon juice(from real lemons, the bottle is dead to me)
- 1 smallgarlic clove, smashed
- 3/4 tspkosher salt
- 1/2 tspground cumin
- 3-4 tbspice water
- 2 tbspextra-virgin olive oil (for serving)
- 1/4 tspsweet paprika (for serving)
- 1 tbspfresh parsley, chopped (for serving)
Steps
- 1
Place the drained chickpeas in a saucepan with the baking soda and cover with about 2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 8-10 minutes, until the chickpea skins start to float and the chickpeas are very soft and slightly broken down.
- 2
Drain in a colander and rinse with cool water. Rub the chickpeas gently between your hands or against the sides of the colander — the skins will slip off. Pick out and discard as many skins as you can. (Yes, all of them. The difference is huge.)
- 3
In a food processor, combine the lemon juice, smashed garlic, and salt. Process 30 seconds, then let sit 10 minutes — this mellows the raw garlic bite.
- 4
Strain the lemon-garlic mixture through a fine-mesh sieve back into the food processor, pressing on the solids. Discard the garlic.
- 5
Add the tahini and cumin to the processor. Process until the mixture is thick and pale, scraping down the sides as needed, about 30 seconds.
- 6
With the processor running, drizzle in 2 tablespoons of ice water. The tahini should lighten and become creamy.
- 7
Add the peeled chickpeas and process for a full 3-4 minutes, scraping down the sides occasionally. This is longer than you think. Keep going. The hummus should be impossibly smooth.
- 8
Add 1-2 more tablespoons of ice water if needed to reach a soft, billowy consistency. Taste and adjust salt or lemon.
- 9
Spread on a wide shallow plate, swirling with the back of a spoon to create a well in the center. Pour olive oil into the well, dust with paprika, and scatter parsley over the top. Serve with warm pita.
One more thing
You will never buy hummus again. Not from a tub. Not from a deli. Not from anywhere. You will become a hummus snob. You will eat hummus at someone else's house, smile politely, and silently think 'this is fine but it's not mine.' And you will be RIGHT. Because once you've had real hummus, the tub is dead to you, and the cement industry has lost another customer. A great day. A great day for everybody. Beautiful.
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Ask Bigly about The Best Hummus.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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