“oh my gosh you made this?” Sharing homemade hummus is a special thing. I frequently enjoy making homemade hummus to have in the fridge for a week or so and eat with everything, or share with friends, and I’ve finally perfected my ideal recipe so I wanted to share. First of all, everyone needs to know how easy it is to make homemade hummus, and it’s so much better tasting than anything you can buy at a store, not to mention there are no added chemicals and preservatives when you make it at home. Let’s get right into it!

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of dried chick peas
• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 1/3 cup of tahini (Trader Joe’s organic is my favorite and I’m not getting paid to say so)
• 2 teaspoons of salt (I use pink Himalayan salt and large sea salt crystals, half and half)
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 4 cloves of fresh, raw, garlic, chopped.
• 1/2 cup of chick pea cooking water/reserve (keep all of it though in case you want more, this is essential for making the hummus creamy)
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions:

• Soak the chick peas in water for 12-24 hours (over night at least). When you’re putting them into the bowl to soak, do a quick check to make sure there are not any foreign objects like little stones.
• Drain the chickpeas (you can discard the water they soaked in)
• Fill a large pot with water and cook the chick peas for about 45 minutes, bring it up to a boil and then let it simmer.
• NOTE: I love to make hummus when the chick peas are still hot, I just think that eating fresh, warm, hummus is a magical experience. Some people may tell you to wait until it’s cooled but I’m not going to tell you that.
• Add all ingredients to a food processor except the olive oil and chick pea reserve (the “reserve” is the water that the chickpeas cooked in).
• Slowly add the olive oil as the hummus mixes.
• Then slowly add the chick pea reserve while it continues to mix.
• There is not really a worry of over processing it in the food processor – you want it to be perfectly creamy!
• Continue adding the chick pea reserve (1/3 to 1/2 cup is usually where I end up) until you’ve reached a desired creaminess. Remember that it will be softer when it’s warm and fresh so adding a little more of the reserve is okay, it will thicken a little bit when you put it in the fridge.
• TASTE TEST! Is there enough salt? Is there enough garlic? Feel free to add as much as your heart desires if it’s not enough.
• Enjoy! We eat it on everything but there’s nothing like a nice pita and falafel to eat it with when it’s fresh.

And that, my friends, is how you make hummus at home! Hope you enjoy it 🙂

Dan