Danielle Oron
The Best Cheats Hummus Recipe
With Super Chopped Salad made with loads of good veggies.
I know! I know! I said I would never write a recipe for a canned chickpea hummus and to ALWAYS use dried chickpeas… bla bla bla. But people change. This is a way to make a VERY SMOOTH, flavorful hummus with canned chickpeas.
The thing that makes hummus lumpy and textured is the skins from the chickpeas. The best way to get a super smooth and creamy hummus is to either completely remove the skins from the chickpeas one by one OR to cook them with a bit of baking soda. Baking soda breaks down the cells of the skins. This allows you to blend that hummus to oblivion and get yourself a creamy, soft serve ice cream like texture.
I have 1 word for you (well, not really this is a whole blog post of words)… AQUAFABA; the starchy liquid that canned chickpeas come in. This is liquid gold and should absolutely be used in cooking these beans down. There are a ton of uses for aquafaba, but here it works as a binder and a flavor building block. DO NOT THROW IT AWAY!
I generally top my hummus with something so it is more of a meal. For this, I wanted to keep things very fresh and bright. I made my chopped (Israeli, Arab, Katzutz) salad but added a few extra veggies I had on hand. The most important thing here is not what veggies to use but HOW SMALL YOU CHOP THEM!
This fine dice is called Brunoise. Generally 3mm thick, cubes are diced to garnish dishes or for mirepoix to make soups. This will help you practice your knife skills! Do your best with this and don’t stress if they’re not perfect cubes or if they’re large. This will taste amazing no matter how you cut those veggies!
This hummus recipe is tahini heavy which is how I like it. Find yourself a tahini you’re going to like. If you taste the raw tahini and it’s nutty and delicious but not too bitter, then that’s the one!
Be very very generous when garnishing this dish with olive oil and za’atar. This is not the time for “a little goes a long way”. Don’t just sprinkle it on… you almost want a half handful of za’atar on here.
Here are some of the recipes I have on the blog to give you some ideas:
Quick Hummus with Super Chopped Salad
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
FOR THE HUMMUS
- 1 can chickpeas , 15.5 oz can SAVE THE LIQUID
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 cup tahini
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 pinch cumin
- 1 tsp kosher salt , I use Diamond Crystal Salt
FOR THE SUPER CHOPPED SALAD
- 2 Persian cucumbers , diced very finely to about 1/4" thick squares
- 2 Roma or Vine Ripe tomatoes , diced very finely to about 1/4" thick squares
- 2 radishes , diced very finely to about 1/4" thick squares
- 1/2 yellow pepper , diced very finely to about 1/4" thick squares
- 1/8 head of purple cabbage , diced very finely to about 1/4" thick squares
- 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp canola oil , or other neutral oil
- kosher salt
FOR SERVING
- za'atar
- extra virgin olive oil
- warm pita
Instructions
FOR THE HUMMUS
- Bring the chickpeas, the liquid they came in, baking soda and about 1/2 cup of water in a medium pot to a boil over medium high heat.
- Immediately turn the heat down to low and skim any foam that rises to the surface.
- Simmer until the chickpeas are incredibly soft and some of the skins have come off, about 8-10 minutes.
- Let cool for 15 minutes or as long as it takes you to chop that salad!
- Reserve about 3/4 cup of cooking liquid and drain chickpeas. (You can always add water later if you don't have enough cooking liquid)
- Place the chickpeas and garlic clove in the bowl of a food processor and blend on high until smooth. Scrape the sides down once to make sure it's all getting smooth!
- Add the tahini, lemon juice, cumin, salt, and about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid from the beans and process until very smooth and light in color, at least 2 minutes. The texture should be like soft serve ice cream. If it looks too thick then add more cooking liquid (or water). If the hummus is still warm, it will get thicker as it cools so keep that in mind!
- Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and lemon juice to your taste.
- This will keep in the fridge for up to 2 days in an airtight container.
FOR THE SUPER CHOPPED SALAD
- Right before serving, combine all the chopped salad ingredients in a large bowl.
- Taste and adjust seasoning with salt to your taste.
FOR SERVING
- Place the hummus by swirling it onto a serving dish making a kind of well in the middle.
- Drizzle hummus with nice olive oil.
- Top with lots of chopped salad, garnish with lots of za'atar and serve with warm pita.
