Victoria Cellars' recipe for homemade hummus

Hummus

Ingredients
  • 3 or 4 cloves garlic (depending on how big the cloves are)
  • 2.5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
  • 4 cups chickpeas (save the liquid from the can)
  • 1 cup tahini
  • 1/3 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice

homemade hummus and chips homemade hummus in bowl with chips

Directions

NOTE: This recipe makes a lot of hummus—enough to feed a party. Feel free to cut all the amounts in half if you’re making this for occasional light snacking instead.

 

Mix the garlic, olive oil, paprika, cayenne, salt & pepper in a food processor or blender until smooth.

 

Then add the chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, and about 1/2 cup of the reserved liquid from the chickpeas.
Blend until smooth, continuing to add the chickpea liquid a little at a time until the mixture has the desired consistency.

 

Serve as is, or sprinkle with paprika, drizzle with olive oil, toss on a little parsley—whatever. But if you’re not going to serve it right away, make sure to refrigerate it in a sealed container. Otherwise a brownish—but still edible—crust soon forms.

Feel free to experiment with variations. For instance, while a little fresh cayenne can give this plenty of kick, using a touch of adobo sauce instead will take it somewhere new.

And, yeah, you could dip pita bread or pita chips, but I made up a batch of flour tortilla chips from scratch to use instead. (See our guacamole recipe for the instructions.) This hummus is so bold that the chips’ relative blandness is a nice complement. You can use them soft, from the skillet or griddle, or baked, lightly brushed with oil & salted, from the oven.

Chef Jean-Luc Bataille