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Hummus |
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The day before you want to make this, you need to make your tahini and you need to soak your chickpeas in more than enough water to cover them generously. Adding the baking soda will ensure the skins disintegrate when you cook them and they'll come out nice and soft to blend well. If you want to use them for a salad or curry, use salt instead of baking soda so as to preserve some texture—but then you have to decide whether to peel them or not.
Next day, drain the chickpeas and rinse them well to remove any taste of baking soda. If you have a pressure cooker, place the chickpeas in it and more than cover them with water. Put the lid on and place your pressure cooker over high heat until there's steam coming out the top. Put the weight on and, when it's come up to pressure, lower the heat to the point where it just maintains the pressure and start your timer. Turn off the heat after 15 minutes and leave the pot to depressurize and cool down by itself, which should take about 20 minutes.
If you don't have a pressure cooker, put the chickpeas in a large pot, cover them with water, bring it to a boil, and simmer for 60–90 minutes, until the chickpeas are quite soft and their skins are falling off.
In either case, place the cooked beans in a seive and drain them under cold running water for a few seconds.
Put the beans, garlic, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and set it going.
when the bean paste starts to look smooth, with the food processor still going, pour in the tahini, cumin, olive oil, and 2 ice cubes and let it run for 4–5 minutes. If it then seems too thick, add ice water, a little at a time until the consistency is what you want.
Transfer your hummus to a party bowl, garnish, and table it with wedges of pita and a selection of raw vegetables.