Creamy Hummus, Restaurant Style
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
water, as needed, optional
4 or 5 cloves garlic, minced
1 (24 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
salt, to taste
olive oil, for drizzle
parsley, to taste, for garnish
ground cumin, to taste, for garnish
1. Put the tahini and lemon juice into a blender (I use an immersion blender) and blend away until it's frothy, white, and creamy. You can substitute a little water for lemon juice; experiment. This is your sesame cream! (If you added a lot more water and blended well enough, you'd get sesame milk.)
2. Blend garlic into the cream, and add some salt, to taste. This is a basic tahini cream sauce that's actually really good on its own! Take a handful of chickpeas and blend it into the sesame cream until smooth.
3. Continue to blend in chickpeas a little at a time until the cream has thickened, but isn't too thick and is still pale (not the deep yellow of the usual chickpea mash). Add salt, to taste.
4. You won't use all the chickpeas, much less than in many hummus recipes. For the above, I usually use about 1/2 (24 ounce) can's worth. Scoop the hummus onto a plate, put a few whole chickpeas on top, drizzle good olive oil over it, and sprinkle some parsley and/or cumin on top if you like.
That's it! It's best if served at room temperature or slightly warmer.
The secret to good hummus, and the difference between hummus and chickpea mash, is to understand what is really going on with the tahini.What is milk? Milk is generally an emulsion of protein and fat in a water-based liquid. An emulsion is when you mix one liquid into another that don't generally mix, like oil and water when you make salad dressing. They're not dissolving into each other, but the little molecules of one are suspended in the other.
For dairy milk, it's an emulsion of animal protein, fats, lactose, etc. For soy milk and nut milk, it's the same thing, but now it's nut proteins and oils. But in all cases, the emulsion is where the creaminess comes from in "milk". If you have less water, you call it cream (either dairy cream or nut creams).
Tahini is sesame butter, and to make creamy hummus, the secret is to first turn that into sesame cream! To do that, you need to emulsify the tahini in a water based liquid first. This will not happen if you just put everything into a food processor all at once!'
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This turned out really creamy and smooth. I had to add extra water and olive oil to the mixture as I used a whole 15oz can of chickpeas. I also used elephant garlic instead of regular garlic. So with almost 6 cloves, it still tastes very mild.
Unfortunately, the tahini I had sitting in the fridge must not have been the right kind because, while the whole mixture is super tasty at first, my hummus has a DREADFUL kind of burntish after taste. :(
As I was making it, I thought adding the chickpeas would nix out that awful taste. Not so.
I added black pepper, dill, 1/4 red onion, and a carrot, it gave it a nice orange color and a sweeter taste. i kept from adding any extra oil, i figured the tahini had enough oil. great recipe though, turned out nice and creamy, not just a thick puree of garbanzos. thanks!!
PS 4 cloves of garlic was perfect!
well i was really excited to make this but unfortunately it was destroyed by the large amount of garlic i put in...... 2 cloves of garlic is def. sufficient!!
Oh yeah, and I use dried chickpeas, not canned. I make a huge batch of garbanzo beans every few weeks and freeze portions in freezer baggies. This is much cheaper than canned and I imagine it has a better flavor?? I can't attest to that, though, because I've never used canned. In any case, don't be scared of dried beans, they're really easy to make and freeze really well. As I make this hummus, I just keep adding garbanzos until the texture is how I like it.
So yummy! I have really screwed up hummus before (more like a chickpea paste) and I have had nothing but success with this recipe. Do feel free to adjust flavors as you go along. I think of the tahini/lemon as the base, but as I add all of the other ingredients I do keep testing and adding more oil or cumin or salt..Thank you!! ;)b
This was pretty good! I used way too much garlic (at least 5 cloves), and I had to add about 1/2 cup water (I used a whole 15 oz can of chickpeas), but I liked the texture. We are spoiled b/c we have often purchased perfect hummus from a local bakery, but I'm glad that I tried this. ^-^
I've never made hummus this smooth. Thanks for the great tips!
ABSOLTELY PERFECT!!!
I will never make hummus a different way. This is the best and most perfect recipe. Try it now!
OMG....To die for, so creamy and full of flavor. I used 2 galric cloves instead of 4. Added pepper and alittle sea salt. Over all HIGH FIVE!!!!
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