Bloody hummus

[dickiedavisthunderthighs]

I love it. It's ace. But I've tried to make it at home from EIGHT different recipes now and each one has been an utter pile of mortar-coloured rubbish.
Either too garlicky or not garlicky enough, ditto lemon, some recommend tons of oil, some recommend none.
And don't get me started on the 12 different ways you can spell it.

Does anyone have a tried and tested recipe that they love and more importantly would love to share? It might save me the current tenner (at least) I spend a month on the Yarden stuff.

TIA :)

Hummous you buy at Tesco is NOTHING like I have ever tried that is home made, so you might be on a losing battle.

You would probably spend a tenner on chick peas tbh

I used to make it, then taste it, then add more of whatever thing I thought was missing, until it tasted right.

I fear you're right valium on both counts.

That tends to be my method Spreading but what starts with half a gallon of chickpea mush just ends up being two gallons of chickpea mush, diluted with salty, bitter tears.

You've probably got higher standards than me, I'll eat anything

Try a tin of chick peas drained, 1 fat garlic clove, juice of 1 lemon, blend, add decent but mild olive oil slowly whilst blending till a consistency you like, half a tea spoon of salt (or to taste).

It's tricky to get it right every time at home what with garlic/lemons tasting different depending upon how old they are but that's a tried and tested recipe that usually works

Brilliant - thank you haddock. I will try this tonight and report duly back.

I have found that adding a good dollop or two of cream cheese to my hummus mixture seems to sort out almost any problems.

Doesn't proper Houmous have Tahini in as well?

Also, flavours in hummus need time to develop - make it and leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours!

Proper rock salt might help too if you don't already use it.

Cannot understand the hummous obsession. Can't wait for this fad to be over!

Yes, that's right, adjust the flavouring & oil content after a couple of hours in the fridge. I had a breakthrough at my last houmous-making session- put more salt in! That's probably half the difference between home-made and shop-bought houmous- shop-bought has more salt....

dobby's right- don't forget the tahini.

Also, I have a bee in my bonnet about whizzing houmous until it's really really smooth, as you get it in Turkish restaurants. To do this really well, you have to have quite soft chick peas to start with.

the jamie oliver recipe has always worked for me - chickpeas, tahini, cumin seeds, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, touch of chilli powder.

I would put tahini as well. I've sometimes used smooth peanut butter instead if I don't have tahini, I'm sure it's not at all 'proper' but tastes fine to me!

Homemade hummous never seems to taste like the stuff from the supermarket - but to me that's a good thing...

Yep, tahini is important. If the end result is too stodgy add some of the liquid from the chickpeas (either the cooking liquid or from the can)

Dear God. DO NOT make hummous without tahini

I don't understand how you can cock it up!

Just shove a tin of chickpeas, some garlic and lemon, some salt and pepper and quite a bit of tahini (about 4-5 tbsp for 1 tin chickpeas) in a blender. Go away for a bit. Come back: hummous. Bob's yer auntie's live-in lover.

I want some now.

oh and don't drain the chickpeas. You need the liquid from the tin to help it blend smooth innit.

I forgot about tahini paste - I do use that. Also I've used a sprinkling of paprika in some recipes. The one thing that that haddock's recipe doesn't mention that the others include is any liquid other than the oil (such as liquid from the chickpeas). I have a suspicion that the shop-bought ones and nicest home-made ones have a higher fat content and are therefore more delicious.

Love the idea of cream cheese, and also cumin seeds.

Oh and this aint no fad xmasbaby11. Oh no.

Ooh now I've never used that much tahini though. The Rose Elliot recipe I used the other day recommended 1 tbsp for two cans of chickpeas... Hmm this could be where it's going wrong, and why it is tasting bland apart from me generally being a shit cook

You've got to be a bit careful with tahini, too much can make it bitter.

I just had a lovely piri piri one from Waitrose, with spicy pitta breads. I love spicy food but it had me drinking a glass of milk with it! I've never had success making it to be honest.

1 tbsp for a can of chickpeas is nowhere near enough. Rose Elliot don't know what she's on about

I would steer clear of adding all sorts of nonsense to it. You want to be able to make actual hummous, not a panicked approximation of it After all, it is supposed to be a very cheap, quick, economical snack, not anything to fret about.

I did eat some once, in a Turkish restaurant in N London, where they had forgotten to put the garlic in. It was unbelievably minging. Like eating cement

I made some from memory yesterday as I couldn't be arsed getting a recipe book out. Crushed 2 cloves of garlic with some salt in a pestle and mortar, i can chickpeas with a bit of the liquid, couple of heaped teaspoons of tahini, juice of a lemon, some black pepper.

It tasted fine, though in hindsight there was probably supposed to be some oil in it, and perhaps a little more tahini wouldn't have gone amiss, but I was running short and didn't want to use it all up.

Just I have no more pitta with which to eat the rest of it.