Friday 5 October 2012

Hummus


  My Father-in-law and I  have a lot in common and one of our shared interests are we both love our food and anything food related. He often refers to our family unit as the Cook (that is me) the musician (my husband) and the baby (our son Tobias). Recently he bought me an amazing cook book, Jerusalem by Sami Tamimi and Yottam Ottolenghi,  this has since been a culinary inspiration to me. I love having my knowledge on food tested, and when I read a cook both with strange, new and exciting ingredients I read it cover to cover like a novel. 
   I adore hummus so naturally this is the first recipe that I tried from the book. I am a hummus addict, I know it's probably a marmite situation, you either love it or hate it, but I love it so much that I think I would bathe in it given the opportunity. I have adapted the recipe (as usual) to my own taste. I have to say the technique resulted in the smoothest hummus I have ever tasted. Top the hummus with toasted pine nuts and a drizzle of olive oil. Try this on a toasted pitta bread with torn fresh coriander and chilli jam, you wont be disappointed. This hummus is an accompaniment in a meze style Middle Eastern/ Mediterranean meal in honour of my father in law. 

You will need:
250g of dried chickpeas
1 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
10 tablespoons of lemon juice
2 large garlic cloves
270g light tahini paste
1 tablespoon of maldon sea salt
100ml of ice-cold water
pine nuts and olive oil

Soak the dried chickpeas overnight or for at least 8 hours. Drain the chickpeas and dry fry them in a sauce pan with the Bicarbonate of soda, this loosens the skins from the outside. When you have fried the chickpeas for five minutes add one and a half pints of water and cook for 20-40 minutes (until you can easily crush the chickpeas between your fingers). Drain the chickpeas again and empty them into a food processor and pulse until you have a rough paste. Add the tahini paste and continue to blend, (the tahini has a tendency to seize up but this is totally normal). Crush the garlic in a pestle and mortar along with the salt as an abrasive, add this to the processor, followed by the lemon juice and the ice cold water. Blend until fully smooth. Make sure you refrigerate the hummus for at least an hour. Drizzle the top with olive oil and top with toasted pine nuts.




1 comment:

Unknown said...

I was there. I tasted. I consumed the evidence with hearty enthusiasm and was not disappointed. Another achievement of perfection. People should be wise folk and follow the chef - Keith the consumer.