I was motivated by a request from a Facebook friend to write my recipe for hummus, after I posted “Homemade hummus. Too much garlic. It burns. Burns. (And let this be a warning to those I work with, and vampires)”. This has got to be the most garlicky batch I’ve ever made. It is also cold and flu season. So, to keep myself healthy, I will talk to people using a lot of “H” words – the big breathy words – like Hhhhhhhhello, hhhhhhow are youuuuuu. This should keep them away from me.  😉

Homemade Hummus The Long Way – Cathy Walsh

1 bag dried chickpeas

OK. Let’s stop here for a moment. Although Michael and I live a modest and comfortable life, wanting for nothing except maybe a Bentley for summer drives to the mountains, we do not live beyond our means. In recent months we have noticed that food costs are getting higher and higher, and as we get closer and closer to retirement, the phrase “pension” is coming into my vocabulary more often than not, and I wonder how I’ll be able to continue to afford things like Quality Garlic sold by the Hutterites at the Strathcona Farmers Market.

In a moment of frugality, I decided I would learn how to cook from dried bean state, because one never knows when the economic stability we current have, will tank. So I said to myself in Superstore, “Cathy, learn how to make 101 things from dried chickpeas, because you just never know”. So I bought a sack of dried chickpeas, and cheap garlic imported from China.

So let’s start from the beginning. What you will need:

1 sack dried chickpeas
A lot of garlic. Let’s say two whole heads
Tahini
Fresh lemon
Olive Oil
Water
Salt
Pepper

Day 1 (I told you this was the Long Way)

Pour a few cups of dried chickpeas in your colander, and pick through them and pull out the bits that don’t look like chickpea. Rinse.

Pour chickpeas in a bowl and cover with water

Day 1, Several Hours Later

Drain the chickpeas, give them a rinse, fill bowl with water again and let sit

Day 2

Look at the soaking chickpeas and tell yourself you will deal with it later

Day 3, Evening

Drain and thoroughly rinse the chickpeas
Add to a cooking pot
Cover with water
Bring to a boil, and allow to simmer for a few  hours
Drain in colander
Put in bowl, allow to cool, cover, and put in fridge

Day 5

Take off cover and sniff chickpeas
Smile, because they still smell fresh and lovely
Recover, and place back in fridge

Day 7

With great determination vow to make hummus today, even if it’s the last thing you do

Day 8

Take off cover and sniff chickpeas
Sigh with relief, because they still smell fresh and lovely
Pull out food processor
Pull out tahini
Rummage through fridge for a lemon
Pull out olive oil
Take a look at garlic inventory – two heads – shrug, peel, and put in food processor
Whiz
Add a few single hand, handfuls of chickpeas – four, five, maybe six, or seven
Squeeze in the juice of one lemon
Add about a 1/3 to 1/2 cup of tahini
Add two tablespoons, or more or less, of olive oil
Whiz
Whiz
Whiz
Add water until the hummus is the consistency you like
Season with salt as you like
Add pepper if you like
Whiz
Whiz until texture consistency you like

Look, I know my measurements suck, but if you are making hummus yourself, it must mean you’ve had hummus you liked. It is important to keep the hummus you liked in your head, and while you make your own hummus, keep adding a bit of this and that until it tastes like the stuff you remember.

Hummus is the easiest thing in the world to make, and impossible to screw up unless you use sugar instead of salt, or add mini marshmallows.

Using canned chickpeas will give you nearly Instant Hummus – just remember to rinse them thoroughly before whizzing.

And if you are still unwilling to wing it, I found this recipe on the Hummus Blog that will offer you measurements and other great hummus making tips.

Just notice the difference please. His recipe suggests one or two CLOVES of garlic. I opted for two whole HEADS of garlic. The hummus, as I’m eating it now, is very sharp, and quite frankly burns, in a nice way. However, this sharpness should mellow-out over night. Next time though, I think I’d roast the garlic if using the same quantity.

Good luck.