Truly Homemade Hummus 1

My youngest son has always loved hummus, so I thought why not make it better, healthier and cheaper than I can buy it at the supermarket. Homemade is always better…right?  Well, to my frustration my first several attempts were met by a shriveled nose and a polite “I don’t really care for it.”  So seriously, how hard can it be to make good hummus???  Well, several tries later I can finally say MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!  I found the right combination that stopped my son in his tracks and got a “Mom, could you put some more in a bowl for me?”  I seriously had a smile on my face the rest of that day!

So what could possibly make such a big difference?  Not exactly a lot of ingredients in hummus.  Well, it was the chick peas!  Who knew that there could be such a difference in the flavor of plain out of the can chick peas.  And what difference would it really make, unless you were doubting your own ability to create a tasty dish because nothing you were trying appealed to your own flesh and blood!

I was really left with no choice, but to do my own chick pea taste test.  I was amazed at how different the flavor of each canned brand was.  After trying multiple brands with no success (success being the two thumbs up from my 11 year old) I finally decided to prepare my own chick peas from dried.

I prefer to cook the chick peas in a slow cooker that I can just throw everything into and let do its thing.  Chick peas come typically in a 16 ounce bag.  They cook up to more than double that, but I choose to go ahead and cook up the entire bag knowing that I can freeze any leftover cooked chick peas for up to a month.

Truly Homemade HummusTruly Homemade Hummus

Truly Homemade Hummus
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Ingredients
Chick peas:
  • 16 ounce bag dried chick peas
  • 7-8 cups water (enough to cover 3 to 4 inches above the chick peas)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda (totally optional, some say it helps to tenderize the chick peas)
Hummus Recipe:
  • 16 ounces (approximately 2¼ cups) cooked chick peas
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated (or more if you like!)
  • 1½ teaspoons Kosher salt
  • 4 tablespoons lemon juice (I prefer fresh squeezed)
  • 1-3 tablespoons water (depends on how thick you want it...start with one and check consistency)
  • ¼ cup tahini (this is a sesame paste that should be readily available)
  • ¼ cup olive oil (I like to use the good stuff here because the flavor comes through)
Instructions
Cooking the chick peas:
  1. Start by setting your slow cooker to high temp for 4 hours.
  2. Add all ingredients to slow cooker, close lid and let cook for 4 hours on high temperature. When done, you will be left with more than double the amount of chick peas needed for this recipe. Take the rest and freeze them because I guarantee that you will be making this hummus again soon!
Making the hummus:
  1. Add one pound (I find this is about 2¼ cups) of the previously cooked chick peas to the bowl of your food processor along with the garlic and salt. Process for 20 seconds then scrape bowl. Add both the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the water. Process another 20 seconds and check for consistency. It should still be pretty thick at this point. If it is too thick, add another tablespoon or two of water along with the tahini.
  2. The tahini tends to settle, so make sure to stir it well before adding to the processor. Process another 20 seconds and scrape bowl before you add the olive oil. With processor on, drizzle olive oil in until blended.
  3. Nothing left to do but enjoy! Serve with pita chips, naan bread, carrots, cucumbers, pretzel sticks...pretty much whatever your heart desires.
Add a festive touch by drizzling basil infused olive oil or white truffle oil and adding some crumbled bacon on top.