At last, I’ve found an authentic tasting hummus recipe that comes somewhere close to replicating the gorgeous hummus at my favourite Lebanese restaurants. Sure, I can make a half decent tasty hummus, have been making it for years, but I have never been to get anywhere near to the creamy smooth addictiveness of the professionals. Until now that is.
The purists out there are going to say that it’s not authentic because I didn’t use dried chickpeas that I soaked overnight. They would be right and next time I will. If I remember. That’s the problem you see, I am never that organised. I have the best of intentions but it never seems to happen.
That is what is so great about this recipe, it is fabulous even if you don’t do the soaking overnight thing. The secret to the smooth and creaminess is that you rub the skins off of the chickpeas. I’d never heard of that before. It makes such a difference to the texture and flavour of the finished product. It is lighter in colour, much creamier, smoother and less bitter. It is a little bit of a faff but so worth it for the end result, I promise.
Hummus Bi Tahine (Chickpeas with Tahini) Recipe
Serves 3-4 as a snack, vegan, gluten-free. Adapted from Desert Candy
Prep time: 20-25 mins with cooked chickpeas. If using dried chickpeas see the original recipe here
- 1 tin/jar (400 gr) cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cloves garlic
- 4 tbsp tahini
- 4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- olive oil, cumin, sesame seeds to serve
Place the drained and rinsed chickpeas in a saucepan and cover them with water by at least an inch. Gently rub the chickpeas against each other with your hands in the pan. Do this for a few minutes. Skim off any visible skins from the top.
Bring to a boil then lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes until the chickpeas are very soft. Check by squishing one between your fingers, it should squish very easily. Remove from the heat and skim off any more visible skins but keep the cooking liquid as you will need it later.
I actually removed the chickpeas from the cooking liquid with a slotted spoon and slipped any remaining skins off of the chickpeas. Fiddly but worth it.
Place the garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle and smush to a paste (you can also do this in a mini chopper). Add the tahini & lemon juice to a processor with the garlic & salt paste and blend until smooth and light coloured. Then add the skinned chickpeas and blend until very smooth. Thin the hummus to the desired consistency with the cooking liquid a tablespoon at a time. Taste and season with more salt as required.
To serve, swirl the hummus onto a deep plate or shallow bowl, drizzle with a little olive oil. Finish with a sprinkling of cumin/paprika and a few sesame seeds.
Use warmed flatbreads, raw carrots, salted crisps (so wrong but so right) or even clean fingers when you run out of everything else, to carry the hummus to your happy mouth and smile.
Cook Eat Live Vegetarian 
I make hummus at least once a week but I am thrilled to learn this new trick, the rubbing. I will try it today and send this to my daughter in law who is a hummus fan too.. thank you.. c
mmmmm, sounds and looks fabulous guapa. FAFF (ing) and SMUSH are we rewriting the Oxford Dictionary dahling ??? Ill give it a try, just need to find someone to skin the peas for me. xx
I’ll have a goo
I like it that you use cooking water instead of sloshing in the olive oil. I might try this. I might even remove the chickpea skins.
That looks delicious. I know about the whole rubbing thing, but it’s a pain in the arse. Besides, I like the texture. I guess it’s about what one likes, it does sound absolutely delicious though… I’m just a lazy sod.
Ah ha! So THAT’s the secret to smooth hummus… I always did wonder why I could never get mine to come out with that silky texture the restaurant stuff has.
(Though now that I know, I’m not sure I can be bothered to rub the skin off chickpeas unless it’s a special occasion. My desire for instant gratification far outweighs my desire for creamy hummus. 🙂 )
I can’t wait to try this technique with my hummus recipes. I bet this will elevate my dessert hummus to a new level…smooth as silk.
Thanks so much for the tip!!!
I have to be honest that I’ve only made hummus a few times, but I almost always have some on-hand. The rubbing “technique” is great…never would consider that, but I can see how it plays into the smoothness. I spent today at the hospital with a loved one, and had to get food from the hospital cafeteria. I came back to the room with a little bowl of hummus and some pretzels. That was lunch! I love this recipe. I could eat bowls of good hummus 🙂 Thank you! Debra
I never would have thought the skins made that much difference! I don’t mind the texture, but now I’m curious how much smoother the hummus would be with this technique.
I have tried to make hummus at home but it was never close to the stuff you get in restaurants, I can’t wait to try this new trick
Thank you so much for sharing
You say your not organised but I am too lazy to rub the skin off the chickpeas. Certainly looks creamy and beautiful too. I must make some, I always have tinned chick peas lurking inthe pantry
Great tip – and I didn´t realise that cooked chick peas would continue to soften with further cooking. We get all these warnings from the experts who say you should not stop the cooking process or they will never soften! Sounds lovely, I adore hummus.
lovely photos and a very interesting technique i will have to try sometime
You are too humble. I have a feeling this is way beyond really good.
Oh goodness, my mouth watered when I saw that glorious photo. I must make this!
I’m making the hummus AND the spelt/fruit/nuts scones tomorrow. Martha WHO ?? xx
Oooh, this looks absolutely delicious. Lovely photos, makes the food look like I could reach in and touch it. Glad I found you through Kellie at Food to Glow.
I made this yesterday… fabulous. Peeling the chickpeas really was worth the extra effort, the skins came away surprisingly easy. It was also weirdly therapeutic, which perhaps says more about me than I would care for it to! The resulting hummus was just incredible. New favourite hummus recipe!
Made the hummus and you are so right about removing the skins. Yes, it was painstaking but totally worth it!! Delicious and creamy. Thank you!
great recipe! the skins come off easily if you put the chick peas on a tea towel and rub them with a second tea towel. 🙂
Fantastic recipe, I like houmous with boiled potatos and salad.
Being a cypriot I do like a traditional homemade hummus, rather the shop bought stuff. This sounds good.
Made this today! took a little extra time and did take the skins off the chickpeas. totally worth it and turned out delicious! best hommus i’ve made! and much less oily! 🙂 thanks!
OMG Natalie! I am just getting ready to post the same tip for my hummus! I can’t digest chickpeas – or so I thought – and have found that skinning them allows me to have more than a tiny teaspoon of it. I can’t believe the coincidence, but I hope you don’t mind that I will be posting this tomorrow – different measures though. Won’t be as pretty though. And haven’t grilled my bread. LOL! What are the chances, huh?
Wow, I didn’t know that removing the skins made them easier to digest, there’s always a reason for everything I suppose! Don’t worry about it we have the same taste in food and I don’t own the “rubbing skins off chickpeas” copyright!!! I’m so glad you can eat it now, I couldn’t live without a hummus fix every now & then!
What a div! I didn’t see that this post is from 2012 and I thought it was Feb 2013! Should’ve read this tip awhile ago as I only just figured this out for myself before Christmas. xx
I make hummus a lot. Great tip about removing the skins of the chickpeas and how great to have a recipe that doesn’t involve using yoghurt!
Mmmmmm…….that looks delicious. That is exactly how a hummus should look!!
Absolutely divine, easy and gorgeous, even better with a large glass of cold white wine! Thank you
Most delicious hummus I’ve ever made. I popped the skins off one by one before boiling, that way I was sure to get them all. Not a bother if there’s a good play on the radio while doing it! Anyway, the result was well worth the time spent.
I made your recipe today and it turned out amazing.. The technique you explain is a lot easier than what i imagined and definitely worth the little extra effort.. Thats my first time making Hummus so im very happy right now 🙂 Thanks a lot for the great recipes..
Mmmmmmm! This looks awesome! I’ve never made hummus, so this recipe will be my first try, thank you!
I just made this, skins on with my stick mix and it is really smooth. I found it pretty potent, so I am not sure what I did wrong?! When I try it next, I think I’ll add more chickpeas.