Backround:This is one of the tastiest and heaviest food of the Mediterranean kitchen,
One of those dishes that you eat early in the morning and feel like going back to sleep.
Main thing to understand is that hummus is a very free style thing.
The quality and type of thini ,variety of garbanzo,spices (if used) and type of processing greatly affect the final result in terms of flavor and consistency.
Here is my favorite way of doing it, I make it every 2-3 weeks on Friday or saturday morning along with fresh sourdough pita's I bake, fresh cut vegetables (yellow onions,tomatos and green fermented olives). Most often we skip lunch, sometimes even diner on that day.
Ingridients: (kills 3-4 people,might be served to up to 6-8)
1kg dry small variety type garbanzo
0.5kg Tahini (the whole quantity may not be needed)
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Lemon – the juice of 1 large fruit.
Garlic – 2 to 4 clots, according to taste.
Spices:Ground Cumin (About a fingernail pinch, its strong stuff. I normally skip it If you like it add it),Sweet\hot Paprika.
Prep:
Stage A:1.Choose the smallest type of chickpea available, these have thinner skins and cook faster.
Pre soak overnight about 1kg of dry pees in cold water, adding 1 large tbsp of baking soda will further accelerate cooking.
2.The next day drain the water, give the pees a good wash and put them in a pressure cooker and cover with water to about 2 inchs of extra water, it can also be done in a normal covered pot It just takes about X2.5 the cooking time and you CANNOT skimp on cooking time, they have to become soft as butter turning in mush when you squeeze the pee between your fingers.
3.Bring to a boil and skim off the foam, adding more water if needed to bring water back to level and Cook for about 1-1.5 hr in pressure cooker\3-5 hr under low heat if cooked in regular pot, adding more water if too much has evaporated.
Caution: DON’T ever add salt at the cooking stage or the pees will never soften.
Stage B:1. while still steaming hot separate the pees from the cooking liquid ,keeping the liquid in a pot slowly boiling to keep it hot and a small amount of pees to top up the plate for presentation.
2. Force the pees through a seive to separate the skins from the "meat",
I used to do it manually but now I have a fancy food processor with a sieve attachment.
You may find that by the time you did this the pees are getting cold (hummus is served HOT),
Don’t worry,stick the sieved pees into the microwave for .5-1 min to warm it up.
3. Add half of the lemon juice (you may add later to correct),
3-4 tbsp of HOT cooking water,minced garlic, 250ml of thini and salt (1\3 tbsp is a good start)
Mix well.
Now taste it and correct acidity and salt,more cooking liquid if you want it runnier.
You may add more thini to make it richer while adding a bit more cooking water to make it runnier.
Presentation:In warm soup bowl (I warm in up in the microwave) add hummus paste,top up with hot pees,add few tsps of hot cooking water and add ALOT of olive oil.
Dive in with pitta and veg.
Sourdough pita recipe is next.