Hummus: Additives, Techniques, Recipes

[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.

[Shalmanese]

For people who make hummus from canned chickpeas, do you use the liquid in the can or do you rinse it off and replace with water?

For people who make hummus from dried chickpeas, do you use the soaking liquid to cook with and do you use the cooking liquid to make hummus with?

[nickrey]

I use the canning liquid. It works well.

[EnriqueB]

I make hummus from dried chickpeas. I don't use the soaking liquid (a brine) to cook the chickpeas. Some people do as it seems to be tastier and more nutritious, but also likely produces gases... I do use the cooking liquid (unsalted water with bay leaf, garlic and cumin) in the hummus, it does clearly make a difference. And the remaining cooking liquid is excellent for soups, cooking rice, etc.

More details here (very inspired by the hummus thread).

[scubadoo97]

I use the soaking liquid to cook and to thin when processing as long as its not too salty. It's very tasty liquid

[EnriqueB]

I use the soaking liquid to cook and to thin when processing as long as its not too salty. It's very tasty liquid

That's part of the reason why I discard the soaking brine and then cook in unsalted water. Also, using salt for soaking and not for cooking is supposed to be the option that cooks beans faster (even twice as fast) according to Harold McGee.

[rotuts]

I taste the liquid in the can, then decided. they vary in taste considerably

[radtek]

I drain and rinse the canned version. I do not use the soaking liquid to cook any dried beans. Always use fresh water! The cooking liquid is discarded. However, the garbanzos aren't rinsed before mashing. I prefer to use citrus and olive oil to thin the hummus.

Since the dried beans take so long a bit of baking soda in the first soak really speeds up the process. Even so they might take more than 24 hours to plump up. And a pressure-cooker is invaluable...

[rotuts]

another reason to consider discarding the 'supernate' however it's made: it contains a fair amount of inulin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inulin

it causes what Julila Child used to call the 'rooty toot toot' you get from eating beans!

[radtek]

I think chickpeas are the fartiest of all the legumes as it is!

[rotuts]

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs002170050228?LI=true

[Katie Meadow]

I use garbanzos that come in a glass jar. I think they have better flavor than those in a can. And I have tried using dried garbanzos, but found that there isn't a significant enough difference once you add lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, cumin and paprika. One of my favorite things about making hummus is that it can be very good, given how easy and fast it is with prepared beans, and far better than most packaged products or even stuff from a deli. Maybe using high quality olive oil and fresh lemon and toasted ground cumin is enough to elevate it. Also it doesn't need near the amount of salt that most prepared stuff has in it.

I rinse the beans and toss the liquid. If I need to add more liquid for texture I'll use fresh water, but it doesn't take too much water if you are also adding oil. When I cook dried beans of other varieties I never use the soaking liquid. Again, I rinse the beans and use fresh water or stock. And after reading about inulin in Wiki, I can live without more of that.

[heidih]

I always rinsed out of habit. One day I just used the rather thick liquid. It was my best effort with canned beans ever. I do agree with rotuts that this is a brand specific and even batch specific issue. It only worked with the S & W beans purchased from the 99 cent store- no clue as to why.

[radtek]

The thing about canned beans in general is that one really has no idea how they were prepared. They certainly have an effect on me so my assumption is that they are inadequately soaked and/or flash cooked somehow- skins full of polysaccharides. One has to balance the convenience vs the quality.

I tell you what. My hummus is badass so if S&W is available I'll give it a shot.

[DocDougherty]

I buy dried chickpeas for $0.99/lb at my local Hispanic market and soak them overnight. Then I pressure cook them for 30 minutes at 15 psi to get them soft. After that I grind them in an Indian stone wet-grinder for 40 minutes with all the other ingredients to get it smooth. The beans are cooked with hot red chili and bay leaf in the pressure cooker. They are ground with lime juice, tahini, garlic, smoked paprika, salt, and a little guar gum (plus enough water to get the consistency right). It takes a day for the flavors to mellow, then it is good for about two weeks if it ever lasts that long. Makes a great bed for poached salmon. Top with a few capers.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight I made hummus for the first time that I remember. I followed Paula Wolfert's hummus bi taheeni recipe from Mediterranean Cooking (p 119) -- only rather than the cold water called for, I used my lovely chickpea broth, well chilled. I compared the hummus texture before and after passing through a tamis. The effort of dragging out the tamis was thoroughly worthwhile.

I would have enjoyed more lemon juice than called for. The recipe does say to adjust the salt and lemon juice at the end, but I wanted to try the specified amount the first time. I plan to stir in some more lemon juice before having it again.

I served the hummus with pita bread. First time I had baked pita also. Very pleased with the result.

[Hassouni]

Sami Tamimi's grandmother's hummus recipe from the Jerusalem makes the smoothest hummus EVER! Highly recommended.

http://food52.com/blog/7305-yotam-ottolenghi-sami-tamimi-s-basic-hummus

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I've read Jerusalem but I had forgotten their hummus recipe. It seems to use more tahini and much less lemon juice than Paula Wolfert's recipe. And I pressure cooked my chickpeas which took 13 minutes, so that part, at least, was fast.

[Hassouni]

You're right about more tahine and less lemon juice. I didn't have enough tahine for what the recipe required, and it was fine. I would add more lemon though. And also, it seems as if they call for a lot of water to be mixed in, and when blended up it will seem VERY watery. A few hours in the fridge takes care of that.

[cakewalk]

I always mix the tahina with water before adding it to the hummus, rather than using tahina straight from the container. The Ottolenghi recipe seems to be changing the order, adding the water at the end, but I'm not sure it's the order that makes the difference. Tahina always gets thicker if it sits for a while after it's mixed.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I thought yesterday I had added too much lemon juice, but having sat in the refrigerator overnight, the hummis is just right.

[Bojana]

Since I bought my Vitamix, I got the hummus bug. Few versions i have tried so far were ok but not spectacular. Tehina i have is not very good so today i am going to make my own, from roasted seeds. Will try ottolenghi recipe since i loved most of the recipes from Jerusalem.

How long does hummus keep in the fridge for?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

How long does hummus keep in the fridge for?

Mine kept three days till it was gone. Bought more chickpeas.

[liuzhou]

I thought yesterday I had added too much lemon juice, but having sat in the refrigerator overnight, the hummis is just right.

I'm a little concerned about you sitting in the fridge all night, but I agree that hummus often tastes different in the morning. I never adjust seasoning until after an overnight chill. For both me and the hummus.

Tehina i have is not very good so today i am going to make my own, from roasted seeds.

From necessity (they don't have it here), I always make my own tahini, including roasting the seeds. It is really easy.

[cakewalk]

Tehina i have is not very good so today i am going to make my own, from roasted seeds.

From necessity (they don't have it here), I always make my own tahini, including roasting the seeds. It is really easy.

Interesting. From what I always understood, middle eastern tehina is not from roasted sesame seeds, it's a raw sesame paste. Asian sesame paste is made from roasted sesame seeds. Like day and night, really. The Asian sesame paste is (IMO) a million times more flavorful. I use it in cooking and also in some baking, but I've never mixed it with water-lemon juice-garlic like I do with "regular" tehina.