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I'm making hummus to take to a get together tomorrow. I've made hummus using a recipe I found on the Internet (from allrecpe.com IIRC) and it was good but rather plain. I'm wondering what I can do to zing it up a bit. My first thought is more garlic. Does anyone here make their own hummus and have suggestions for additional flavors?

I've also made the variant that includes fire roasted peppers and Feta cheese and like that too. I've got spinach ready in the garden. I wonder if I could use some of that with some Feta cheese.

thanks,
hank

Depends what you like, really. I'd toast some cumin and add that.

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Food & Flowers: Late spring at the Shakespeare Garden, Northwestern University; new views of the Fargo/Hoyne Bee & Butterfly Garden, Rogers Park, Chicago

Did your recipe have tahini in it? Hummus without tahini tastes pretty bland to me but, otherwise, my recipe for hummus is just the usual: chickpeas, tahini, lemon, garlic, salt, olive oil, parsley, paprika and/or cumin. I personally wouldn't put too much garlic in it, as hummus shouldn't (in my opinion) tastes like a garlic spread. Yes, it needs garlic, but it's not supposed to be a garlic bomb.

With hot giardiniera and following Cathy2's reco - with preserved lemon.

Thanks all for the tips.
I'll give that a try. I just need to pick up some whole cumin.

That's pretty much the recipe I had and I did get tahini to make it.

Do you just mix the giardiniera in so it's chunky or do you blend it in? I don't have preserved lemons so I'm out of luck on that account.


-hank

I posted this back in '06, still the method and recipe variations I use today.
Hummus, A Love Story: Recipe and Pictures

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

I blend the preserved lemon but go chunky with the giardiniera - roughly chop it and add it to the finished hummus.

FWIW: I haven't tried them together - I tend to go either salty/sour or spicy/hot.

I like olive tapenade and oilive oil on top, not really mixed in.

There is only one way to make hummus bi tahina (hummus w/ tahini).

Skinned, cooked chick peas
Lots of lemon
Lots of tahina
A little garlic
Olive oil
Salt

Emulsify the shit out of it in a blender or food processor, or do it old school in a mortar and pestle (taahin).

Plate in a manner that leaves a circular moat with a raised middle. Fill with olive oil and lemon juice. Sprinkle with sumac and paprika. Don't put weird shit like basil, roasted red pepper, cumin, etc. in it. Not hummus. Not in my world.

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"By the fig, the olive..." Surat Al-Teen, Mecca 95:1"

Heh-heh, Habibi you need to take part in that discussion on "authenticity" now taking place downboard in "Culinary Chat"! Obviously you have strong thoughts re: authentic hummus!!

Geo

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In the end I had to choose and I went with this one for tonight. It struck a chord with me with the comment "... anyone with a Cuisinart or blender can whip up a basic recipe in 5-minutes, leading me to wonder who the hell buys premade." Convenience is an, uh ... convenient excuse, but at least in this case the results far make up for that. I also took it a step further and started with dry chick peas. Anyone with a pot and stove ...

I also appreciate the suggestions for alternate 'dipping tools' beyond toasted pita as I lack sufficient imagination to come up with those.

I just finished the hummus and the toasted cumin really gives it a nice flavor and the jalapenos give it a nice zing.

Thanks all for the suggestions, I'll be trying all of them eventually.

best,
hank

I love using the chard stems cut up like celery sticks, especially the bright lights (rainbow) and yellow varieties. Goes great with hummus (and any other dip you care to use them for). I haven't tried this but I bet that baked zucchini chips dusted with some sumac would be pretty delicious dipping vehicles as well.

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“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” Elizabeth Taylor

Amen! Having been first introduced to hummus as a teen living in Saudi Arabia, I'm old school, too. I laugh to myself when friends rave about the roast-chili horseradish truffled hummus they had. It may have tasted good, but it wasn't hummus.

Though I only sometimes put it in mine, isn't cumin fairly normal in certain styles of Middle Eastern hummus?

Want authentic hummus? Someone will give you great ideas on how to make it. That someone is not me. The overwhelming favorite among my friends will be startling to some; those who require authenticity: avert your eyes now.

Buffalo-wing hummus. That's right, I said it. I take chickpeas and tahini, and I add a ton of Frank's Red Hot, celery salt, heaping helpings of garlic, and melted butter. If I'm feeling really naughty, I throw some schmaltz and gribenes up in there.

I've never seen it. Cumin is used in certain ful preparations, however. I neglected to mention that hummus can also include garnishes of whole chickpeas, chopped hot pepper, and a tiny bit of chopped parsley. THAT'S IT.

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"By the fig, the olive..." Surat Al-Teen, Mecca 95:1"

It's not hummus. It's buffalo wing-chickpea dip. Do not refer to it as hummus, because, I repeat, it is not hummus.

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"By the fig, the olive..." Surat Al-Teen, Mecca 95:1"

I totally get that. I feel the same way about cocktails that are called martinis and aren't. But I'm still going to eat my buffalo wing hummus because, like a chocolate martini, it is delicious. But not with a chocolate martini; gross.

I never expected such a spirited discussion, but now I know why the recipe for fire roasted red peppers, Feta cheese, chick peas, lemon juice et al is not called hummus!

Rest assured I'll try the authentic hummus (except I'm probably not going to peel the chick peas. ) along with the other variants listed.

thanks again,
hank

Just made a batch. I like mine traditional but I also use Greek yogurt (to aid in making it smoother and creamier) and smoked paprika.

That's interesting. I'm quite surprised at that. I understand that it's not a standard ingredient in hummus, but I thought a pinch or so of cumin was a common variation. I know I've encountered it in at least Syrian restaurants.

Exploded the first time I saw a puffy chocolate cherry bagel, now I simply seethe.

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

Lina's in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City, which allegedly specializes in both hummus and mesabha (which is based pm cooked rather than mashed chickpeas), has sliced onion, pine nuts, and green pepper as on-the-side garnishes. The green pepper strikes me as weird, but whatever. And I would think zaatar is also a legitimate garnish as well.

Otherwise, I agree with you. Roasted pepper, jalapeno, basil, etc. are more or less abominations. And I don't know about Habibi, but I find that with few exceptions, hummus made with the chickpeas that are authentically Middle Eastern (i.e. from the Levant or Turkey) have a better, earthier taste than what people call chickpeas here.

Agreed.

Same goes for these cheese-and-meat-laden abominations baked in 2-inch-tall pans or cut into big floppy slices...quit calling it pizza, you're making 10th-century Gaetanos roll over in their graves.

Also, eating fries with ketchup is for philistines and derelicts; the people who invented them eat them with mayonnaise, and that's the only way they should be eaten.

In my case, garlic, dehydrated lemon, and blood orange olive oil.

Sunday I made a chickpea spread that was really tasty. The best thing was the cooked chickpeas themselves, though. I normally use canned, and made these myself instead. I used the "quick soak" method, put boiling water over them and let them sit for a few hours, then drained and simmered in clean water with a garlic clove, carrot, celery and some sugar. At the end, I added some salt and turned off the heat (no salt during cooking). Now I need something to do with the rest of the chickpeas that won't drown them in other flavors.

The spread recipe is viewable here as a Google inside the book, and you can see someone else's pics of making the spread here. It's from Mourad: New Moroccan by Mourad Lahlou. He says we all love hummus, but maybe we're at a saturation point, and here's something to try that's a little different.

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Leek
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Stumbled across this recipe & thought of this thread. "How do you flavor your hummus?" "Oh, with sugar, vanilla and chocolate chips..." (To be fair, she's not calling this hummus.)

Habibi is, of course, correct. That said, I enjoy both hummus, and certain hummus-like chickpea-based dips that fall nearby on the bean spread continuum.
A whisper of cumin, yes.
A hint of heat from cayenne. Sometimes.
A smidgen of smoked paprika. Now and them.
My greatest heresy is horseradish. Nuts. Off the charts apostasy. But what can I say, the heart wants what it wants. I like the zing.

I think it must be easier to be orthodox with hummus when the chick peas are from the Levant, the lemons grow in the back yard, and the tahini comes from some Palestinians a mile away, etc. Whole different flavor ball game from what I've heard from those who've been there.

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"Strange how potent cheap music is."

Thanks, Habibi. I'll interpret this as the canonical recipe for hummus. I've made it this way a couple of times and we like it. I'll presume that proportions are not critical and there is some flexibility within the bounds of producing something of approximately the right taste and consistency.

I did not skin the chick peas. How important is that? Is there an easy way to do that?

I'm not giving up on other flavors suggested. I've also tried toasted cumin and find that good as well. I feel it is worth while knowing what the starting point is supposed to taste like before venturing off in other directions.

thanks,
hank

Totally agree with Habibi. A cat can have kittens in the oven but they still ain't biscuits.

G Wiv - Yeah, I used to be disgusted but now I try to be amused....