For truly amazing hummus, soak dried chickpeas overnight and cook them the following day. The result has a silkier texture than hummus made with canned chickpeas. If you use a dark brown, deeply roasted tahini, your hummus may need extra lemon juice. The converse is true if you use a pale, more delicate tahini.

  • Serves

    9

  • Cook Time

    25m

    Plus overnight marination for chickpeas

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, drained and boiled until tender
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/3 cup tahini
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2.5 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp toasted cumin seed powder (bhuna jeera)
  • 1/4 tsp Aleppo pepper (optional)
  • 1/4 tsp freshly cracked peppercorns
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 lemon, cut into wedges for serving
  • Juice of 1.5 lemons
  • Ground sumac for sprinkling (optional)

Preparation

  1. Heat your broiler to high. Place the garlic on a baking sheet and broil for about 8 to 12 minutes, turning often, until all its sides are browned and the garlic is soft.
  2. Remove the garlic from the oven, cool, and then peel, coarsely chop and set aside.
  3. Using a food processor, pulse together the garlic, all but 1 tablespoon of chickpeas, water, olive oil, lemon juice, toasted cumin, (if using) Aleppo pepper, salt and cracked pepper, until it is smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
  4. Add the tahini and blend for 2 minutes (if you like fluffy hummus, process for a couple of extra minutes).
  5. Taste and adjust the salt and lemon juice, if necessary, and serve sprinkled with reserved chickpeas, a pinch of sumac and plenty of pita bread.
Suvir Saran

Suvir Saran

Suvir Saran, the Chef-Owner of The House of Celeste in Gurgaon, is Scroll Food’s Chef of the Month for August. A legend in New York’s food circles, Chef Suvir garnered a Michelin star at Devi, a first for Indian cuisine restaurants in North America. He is the chairman of Asian Culinary Studies for the Culinary Institute of America and has written three cookbooks: ‘Indian Home Cooking: A Fresh Introduction to Indian Food’, ‘American Masala: 125 New Classics from My Home Kitchen’ and ‘Masala Farm: Stories and Recipes from an Uncommon Life in the Country’. His fourth book, ‘Instamatic: A Chef’s Deeper More Thoughful Look into Today’s Instaworld’, released earlier this year. Chef Saran’s approachable style helped demystify Indian cuisine in the US and ultimately formed American Masala, his culinary philosophy that celebrates the best of Indian and American cooking.

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