132 replies to this topic

[heidih]

I bought a can of chickpeas from the discount store and dumped them with their liquid into the food processor. After adding the usual suspects and running for several minutes it was really creamy. I suspect they may have been a tad "overcooked". Somewhere I read about folks running them in the FP or blender for as long as 10 or more minutes. My bowl has no bits or discernable graininess and would make a lovely creamy soup with a bit more thinning.

[andiesenji]

It seems to me slightly unlikely that *every* restaurant and cafe in Lebanon is using chickpea flour. I wonder if they just have commercial grade blenders? If you did it from beans in a BlendTec, I wonder how that'd turn out....

I can make very smooth and creamy hummus from either canned or soaked and cooked chickpeas in my Thermomix, or in small batches (not more than 2 cups) in my VitaMix, but never had much success in a food processor or regular blender.
Once burnt out an Oster blender making sesame paste.

Edited by andiesenji, 26 March 2012 - 03:16 PM.

[Will]

I think removing the skins is a big part of getting a creamy texture. I haven't tried the cooking with baking soda technique mentioned earlier in the thread, but I've heard that's another secret, at least for Israeli style hummus.

Also, using a lot of tahini (more than you might think would taste good), and (for certain styles of hummus), try not adding oil. I have seen the suggestion to mix the tahini, lemon juice, and maybe the garlic first, and then add the chickpeas to that.

Edited by Will, 26 March 2012 - 06:06 PM.

[Hassouni]

OK, so made a batch with chickpeas I soaked last night and boiled today with baking soda.

Removing the skins was a MONUMENTAL PAIN IN THE BUTT. It took at least half an hour and even then I didn't get them all. They didn't really float, and I had to remove most of them one by one.

But, this is definitely the smoothest hummus I've ever made, and that was in a standard issue, medium-sized Cuisinart.

Is there any way to remove the skins without wanting to just throw it all down the sink? Is it possible to get split dried chickpeas?

[andiesenji]

I got some fresh chickpea flour today (posted in Middle East Groceries) and am going to try a batch.
I also got a can of Hommos Tahina - I've never tried this and am interested in both the texture and the flavor.
It's a big can so I will wait till I have guests to open it.

[Katie Meadow]

Never having made hummus from chick pea flour I can't comment on it, but my intuition tells me that I would rather use high-quality jarred chick-peas if saving time is a major factor. I've used dried whole chickpeas, rehydrating, cooking etc. and find I can make hummus I like just as much using the Annalisa jarred ones, and I don't seem to have a problem with the skins. I find there is definitely a difference in texture and flavor if the chickpeas are packed in glass rather than metal. I use an old cuisinart processor, not a blender, and if enough oil and water and/or pea-broth is added, the end result is plenty smooth, at least to my taste.

[Hassouni]

I got some fresh chickpea flour today (posted in Middle East Groceries) and am going to try a batch.
I also got a can of Hommos Tahina - I've never tried this and am interested in both the texture and the flavor.
It's a big can so I will wait till I have guests to open it.

I wouldn't get my hopes up about the can, they're usually not very good. What brand is it?

[TheTInCook]

The hummus I made this weekend had little bits of 'grit' in it no matter how much I pureed it. The beans took forever to get soft. I was using a normal pot, no soak, no salt, no soda, and the beans stayed underwater the entire time. Definitely going to use baking soda.

[Franci]

I've almost never had a problem of hard chickpeas and I don't use baking soda, but I soak 36 to 48 hours changing water every 12 hours and in summer I keep in the fridge. I followed also Nourishing Traditions advice and soaked with lemon (or whey) not sure it made a huge difference in texture. I should try again with the same batch of chickpeas.
I also was wondering about Heston Blumenthal 10% brine for beans if works for chickpeas to get uniformity in cooking. I'll give it a try and report back.

I have seen the suggestion to mix the tahini, lemon juice, and maybe the garlic first, and then add the chickpeas to that.

This made the best hummus I ever made! It was much lighter, fantastic.

Removing the skins was a MONUMENTAL PAIN IN THE BUTT. It took at least half an hour and even then I didn't get them all. They didn't really float, and I had to remove most of them one by one.

The fastest way I tried is to remove the skin before cooking, after the chickpeas have been soaked. I put them on a sheet pan and covered with a towel an rolled and crushed with a rolling pin. I tried in the past with little success but I was too gentle.
Now, it's still a pain because while it was easier to remove the skin I had to go one by one anyway. Now I'm thinking of just crushing them before cooking and then cooking and see at that point in the skins float on top of the pot.
Honestly, a food mill, with the smallest holes, I think does the job well enough.

I got some fresh chickpea flour today (posted in Middle East Groceries) and am going to try a batch.
I also got a can of Hommos Tahina - I've never tried this and am interested in both the texture and the flavor.
It's a big can so I will wait till I have guests to open it.

Well, you have a thermomix for cooking it. I hate cooking chickpeas flour because it is prone to lumps and you need to stir constantly. I guess you need to diluite quite a lot. Here they make "cakes" (panisse in french, panissa in italian) which are sliced and panfried.

[EnriqueB]

I've almost never had a problem of hard chickpeas and I don't use baking soda, but I soak 36 to 48 hours changing water every 12 hours and in summer I keep in the fridge. I followed also Nourishing Traditions advice and soaked with lemon (or whey) not sure it made a huge difference in texture. I should try again with the same batch of chickpeas.
I also was wondering about Heston Blumenthal 10% brine for beans if works for chickpeas to get uniformity in cooking. I'll give it a try and report back.

Hi Franci, why such long soaking times? 12 hours should be enough, according to McGee and also to my experience. The 10% brine (again following McGee) works perfect for me with chickpeas: salt in the soaking water makes later cooking faster. I soak in 10% brine (100% dry beans, 300% water --not hard--, 30% salt) for 8-12 hours, then 10-12 minutes in salted non-hard water in the pressure cooker at high pressure, natural release, and always get perfect soft chickpeas.

[Franci]

Hi Franci, why such long soaking times? 12 hours should be enough, according to McGee and also to my experience. The 10% brine (again following McGee) works perfect for me with chickpeas: salt in the soaking water makes later cooking faster. I soak in 10% brine (100% dry beans, 300% water --not hard--, 30% salt) for 8-12 hours, then 10-12 minutes in salted non-hard water in the pressure cooker at high pressure, natural release, and always get perfect soft chickpeas.

It has happened to me a couple times that I had an old batch of chickpeas, on those rare occasions a longer cooking didn't help. Then I'm not sure how reliable are the studies out there but many claim that longer soaking is benificial in the lowering of phytic acid. In doubt and if I remember, longer soaking doesn't hurt.


So, this morning I had chickpeas soaked for 48 hours, last night I added a good handful of coarse sea salt to the water.
I threw the chickpeas on a sheet pan, covered with a towel and crushed a little with a rolling pin



Not too bad. More effective would be a little at a time. I didn't remove the peels and decided to remove everything after cooking. Cooked in the pressure cooker for 30-40 minutes. Oh, these were surely old chickpeas...but after that they were soft enough.
I poured the chickpeas on a tamis and reserved the liquid. It was pretty easy and fast to pick the peels. I didn't do a perfect job because next step was passing them through the food mill.

In a bowl I whipped lemon juice, garlic and tahin. Then with an immersion hand blender I whipped the tahin mixture with the chickpeas, plus oil.
I added a little bit of cooking liquid to the chickpeas...ahi! That made the hummus too runny for my liking. Otherwise the color was nice and also the texture. The specks are cumin (a little coarsely grounded). My last batch was much nicer.

[EnriqueB]

Franci, those must be really old tough chickpeas!

[Hassouni]

Just got a Kitchenaid 5 speed blender, 670 watts, and man, it made some SMOOOOOTH stuff using canned hummus (by which I mean whole chick peas), skins and all.