This homemade hummus is truly the best hummus
Last month, my mom texted me from the grocery store a few days before she drove out to visit me in New York. She sent me a photo of a package of mini naan “dippers” with the message, “Are you going to make hummus while we are there? I can bring some of these.” I replied, “I probably will not make hummus, but maybe I could.” An hour later, after some other unrelated conversation, she texted me, “I bought those little breads so you really should make hummus.”
And really, how could I argue with that?
The hummus she was talking about was developed by chef Michael Solomonov of Zahav restaurant in Philadelphia. I’ve made it a few times now — including when my mom visited me in early January.
It is completely reasonable that my mom has developed a taste for this hummus after having it once. This hummus is...incredible. As my former coworker Michelle wrote about it, “If you have the energy to learn how to prepare just one food over the course of your lifetime, let it be this one.” It’s so creamy, so flavorful, so...special. I love it on bread, but also on perfect chicken and roasted vegetables.
A couple recipe notes:
The hummus isn’t at all hard to make, but I think it’s kind of an Event. I think it’s just because it has kind of a lot of steps (the first of which starts the night before you actually make it), and also because I have a small New York kitchen. In any case, it’s absolutely worth it.
I’ve made the hummus with both dried chickpeas and canned chickpeas. The dried chickpeas are definitely better (the final effect is just creamier) but using canned beans won’t ruin it. Basically, if you forgot to soak the beans and now think you can’t make it, go ahead and use canned; they are definitely good enough.
I’ve been using my KitchenAid stand mixer with the whisk attachment to make the tehina sauce and that works very well. The second time I made it, I inexplicably temporarily lost my mind and made the tehina in my food processor....which WORKED, but it required a lot more dishes and everything just got really messy. It wasn’t until later that I realized I hadn’t done that the first time — which why it was a much pleasanter/easier experience the first time! (You can also whisk it by hand, of course.)
When I made it last month, I used the extra tehina sauce that I’d frozen the last time around and it worked perfectly! (I let it thaw for about 24 hours first.) The tehina sauce recipe makes twice the amount you need, and it’s definitely worth saving/freezing it to use later; it cuts down on the amount of time and energy you’ll spend the second time in a pretty meaningful way.
Get the recipe: My Friends Won't Stop Texting Me For This Outrageously Good Hummus Recipe, BuzzFeed. ✨