Hummus

Hummus is delicious and easy to make! This six ingredient hummus comes together quickly with a blender and can be enjoyed many different ways. Once you try homemade hummus, it'll be hard to go back to supermarket hummus ^_^

I use to eat at a restaurant called Hummus Place when living NYC. And then another restaurant called Oren's Hummus when living in San Francisco. I love hummus and how restaurants would serve it warm, so fresh. It wasn't until I moved back home to Hawaii that I thought about making my own hummus.

For some reason I thought hummus was complicated to make. But it's not!

What surprised me was how simple it was to make. It takes a little planning if you're cooking dried chickpeas instead of using canned chickpeas.

But aside from that, the only special equipment is a blender. The remaining ingredients are is pantry staples, aside from tahini (which many markets sell).

Ingredients

Here's what you'll need:

Cooked Chickpeas 
If using canned chickpea: save the liquid from the canned chickpeas.

If cooking dried chickpeas: save the cooking liquid.

For dried chickpeas, my go-to brand is Rancho Gordo (pictured above). Their beans are wowowow. See section below for a quick way to cook dried chickpeas (no need to soak overnight!)

Tahini
The one thing I always hear about homemade hummus is that the hummus will be only as good as the quality of the tahini. Buy the best tahini you can get.

I like tahini from this brand (I loved going to their Chelsea Market store in NYC...pretty neat to find their tahini online and in-stores these days).

Olive Oil
As with the chickpeas and tahini, use good (but no need fancy) olive oil.

Garlic
I love garlic, but if you're not crazy about garlic, use a clove or two less.

If you like garlic but prefer a more mellow flavor, there are a few options:
- Use roasted garlic.
- Mince and saute the garlic. Then add that to the blender.
- Slice the garlic and soak in lemon juice for five minutes. This will also help mellow out the raw garlic flavor.

Lemons
We use the juice and zest from the lemons.

Sea Salt
Just a little to taste!

Instructions

Let's get cooking!

Put the cooked chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, and garlic into a blender. Blend until well mixed.

If the hummus is too thick or chunky to blend, add some of the chickpea cooking liquid (or water).

Add the liquid one tablespoon at a time until the hummus reaches a nice and smooth consistency.

Taste the hummus. Add more salt if needed.

Spoon the hummus into a bowl. Drizzle olive oil on top and serve! Best fresh ^_^

How To Cook Chickpeas (No Soaking Needed)

Canned chickpeas make good hummus.

Freshly cooked dried chickpeas makes amazing hummus.

The problem is that I never remember to soak the dried beans overnight.

The solution? Instant Pot! (This is the model we have at home. Got it on sale at Macy's years ago and it still works as good as new.)

Rinse the chickpeas in a big bowl. Remove any debris. Then place the chickpeas in the Instant Pot. Cover with water. I use about 4 cups of water for every 1 cup of dried chickpeas.

Cook the chickpeas on "high pressure" for 50 minutes. Do a "natural pressure release" for 30 minutes. The chickpeas are done and ready for hummus!

Make sure to save some of the chickpea cooking liquid, we use it to make the hummus. (Though it's ok if you forget, you can also use water.)

How To Serve The Hummus

Many ways! I usually prepare hummus in the late afternoon so that we can have it "fresh" for dinner. Sometimes it's even warm!

When you cook dried chickpeas and make the hummus when the cooked chickpeas are just cooked / still warm, you'll have warm hummus which is BLISS.

I like to prepare individual servings to everyone can make their own bowl and add the toppings they like. Put a generous scoop of hummus in a plate or shallow bowl.

Use the back of a spoon to make well/indent in the middle of the bowl. Put your toppings in that middle.

Warm some pita bread in the toaster oven. Dip, spoon, eat!

What toppings to use? Ideas:

Dice tomatoes and cucumbers. Toss with a little salt and olive oil. Put it in the hummus bowl. Drizzle olive oil on top. Eat warm.

Or just add spices! Keep it simple. Sprinkle good cumin and paprika on top (I like the spices from Burlap & Barrel, pictured above). A little salt. Lots of olive oil.

You can also saute ground lamb with onions and garlic. Season with cumin and paprika. Spoon that into the middle of the hummus bowl. Super good.

Slice a hard boiled egg and arrange that in the bowl. You can also add sliced avocado. Top with olive oil and a little salt.

Photo: 1 cup dried chickpeas (top) = 3 cups cooked chickpeas (bottom).

FAQ

Hummus Recipe