Real Hummus

[Makes about 4 cups]

Hardware

1 cups dried chickpeas (the smallest you can find)
1/2 cup tahini
Juice from 1 fresh lemon (2–3 tablespoons)
- might as well use some of the zest, too
1-2 garlic cloves grated/crushed
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Baking soda: 1 tablespoon for the soak and 1/8-1/4 teaspoon for cooking
Salt
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Garnish*

Pour the chickpeas into a fine sieve.
Wash the chickpeas until the water is transparent.
Soak them in clean water overnight with just 1 tablespoon of baking soda.
Wash and soak again for a few more hours. They will absorb most of the water and almost double their volume.
Wash the chickpeas once more and put them in a large pot. Cover with water, add the rest of baking soda.
Bring to a boil and then simmer over medium heat until the beans are very soft, 1.5 to 2 hours.
When done, skim the peels and foam from the cooking water. Drain the chickpeas and keep the cooking water.
Put the chickpeas into a food processor and process until smooth. Use a bit of the stock to help it along.
Allow to cool (about body temp) before adding more ingredients, you don’t want to “cook” the tahini, lemon or garlic.
Add the tahini and the rest of the ingredients process until you get the desired texture. If the Humus is too thick, add some of the cooking water. It should be thinner than the actual desired texture as it will thicken after an hour.
TASTE your way through process and perfect it to the finish.

I usually half this recipe since it is hard to go through 4 cups of hummus in a week and most of the time the hummus will only stay good for about a week to a week and a half.
This is a base recipe, yes I know you could use roasted garlic, but then all of it tastes like roasted garlic. Save that for a garnish. If you’ve never made hummus from dried/scratch, you’re going to be surprised at just how good it is all by itself.

Yes, you want dried chickpeas (garbanzos), you want to control the entire flavor profile.
California Olive Ranch – Arbequina Varietal
Real Salt – Kosher Grain