Saturday, January 21, 2012

How to get a smooth paste from ground chickpeas?

Question

I make Hummus quite often, and use my food processor to chop the chickpeas. This yields a sort of coarse paste, which is a little better if I peel the chickpeas first. Adding liquid to the mixture doesn't seem to help much, but only leads to watered down Hummus.

I would like to get a much smoother paste, that resembles restaurant Hummus more closely. How can this smoother paste be achieved?

Answer

You cannot make good hummus from canned chickpeas, you should make it from fresh dried beans

The beans need plenty of soaking and rinsing

When cooking, add one tsp of baking soda per cup of beans. Baking soda chemically softens the bean proteins. Never add salt or other flavourings during the bean cooking stage

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Traditional hummus is somewhat coarse, but very soft (due to baking soda). It is made with a minimal amount of olive oil, but drizzled with olive oil and a sprinkle of cooked, and still warm chick peas when served

Restaurant hummus is often just over processed junk made in a factory with a commercial grinder (like a peanut butter grinder)

Also, see How should I prepare dried chickpeas? if your chickpeas never go soft

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