Hummus recipe?

[OakLeaf]

Since everything goes into the food processor item by item, I don't need a recipe. Just keep adding stuff until it tastes good to you.

The only exception is the parsley - unless herbs are the first thing you put in the food processor, you'll have to hand mince them, since they won't chop properly once you start adding the pasty ingredients. So I start with the parsley, and plenty of it. Basically just separate the bottoms of the stems; the more tender tops of the stems will grind up along with the leaves. I don't much care for mint in hummus, but if you like it, this is the time to add that as well.

Pre-soaked chickpeas only take 9 minutes in the pressure cooker, plus natural pressure release. I throw several cloves of garlic into the cooker with the peas. Too much raw garlic in hummus is a little much for me, and although the flavor of roasted garlic is much nicer, that's another step that I hardly ever get around to. But if you wanted raw garlic in the hummus, do that before the herbs, even.

Next the peas and enough of their cooking liquid to cover about 1/3 of them. If you're starting with canned peas, personally I'd use water and olive oil rather than the canning liquid - even if they're unsalted and in BPA free cans, just yuk. But your choice ... Pulse a few times until you get a sense of the liquid level, add more liquid as needed. Once most of the peas have been ground a little bit, add your lemon juice and olive oil and let the motor run, but keep a close eye on it. If the motor starts working too hard, add liquid a little at a time. Odds are you'll want to scrape the sides once or twice to make sure all the peas are getting processed. When you scrape you can taste for the amount of olive oil too and add more of that if you like.

When it's nearly smooth, add your salt, ground red pepper and tahini. Personally I don't buy tahini any more, I just buy sesame seeds in the 12-oz bags and grind them in my mini grinder as needed. So much fresher that way. I'll also grind the salt down in the mortar and pestle so it dissolves easily, unless you've got a salt grinder. Again, process, scrape, taste, adjust. Remember that the red pepper will take a few minutes for the flavor and capsaicin to come through, so add less than you think you need. Might need a little more olive oil at this point too - make sure you're using good oil, because the flavor really will come through.



I'd hesitate to use a blender, honestly, unless you have a Vitamix or something equally chuffy. I can't even count the number of blender motors we've burned out just doing "normal" blender stuff. If you do it in the blender, use a lot of liquid and be prepared for a soupy hummus.

Garnish with a sprig of parsley and a drizzle of olive oil et voilà!