Being an immigrant, in this specific case – an Israeli in America, brings with it a constant feeling of longing to that something in the air that reminds you of home: the noise, the people, words, smells, and tastes you can’t always describe. No wonder there are so many ethnic restaurants and supermarkets across the U.S. After all, food is the easiest way of bringing an immigrant back for a few moments to the place he misses the most.

For me, and I believe it’s true for many Israelis and Palestinians, what is missed the most is hummus. Good hummus, that is. Freshly made, silky and flavorful. Now that Bon Appetit Magazine declared hummus the dish of 2015, you’d think good hummus would be easy to come by, but even in Washington DC, the capital of the free world, it’s still not.

Luckily, I dedicated years to perfect my homemade hummus until it finally felt as good as at home.

Hummus may seem like the easiest dip to make. All you need are cooked chickpeas, a good tahini, garlic and lemon juice. But to make it excellent, smooth and not too heavy, you need to remove the skin from the chickpeas, you need to find a good tahini that’s not bitter and you need to mix it long enough in the food processor to get the right consistency. Nevertheless, it’s still easy to make, and is a hundred times better than anything you’ll find on the supermarket shelves.

Serve it the day you make it, with warm pita, raw onion, cooked chickpeas, tahini sauce and tatbilah sauce (recipe included in the hummus recipe below).

Hummus

Recipe by Vered GuttmanCourse: AppetizersCuisine: Israeli, palestinian, ArabDifficulty: Medium

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

hour

minutes

Calorieskcal

Pickled shifka peppers are available at Kosher supermarkets and Middle Eastern supermarkets. They are very similar to the Italian pepperoncini peppers and can be substituted for those. Alternatively, you can simply mix lemon juice and olive oil with thinly sliced Serrano pepper and a spicier but tasty sauce for the hummus.

Yields 5 cups

INGREDIENTS

2 cups dried chickpeas
½ teaspoon baking soda
3 garlic cloves
½ cup lemon juice
½ cup chickpea cooking water
2½ teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup tahini
For the tatbilah dressing
¼ cup lemon juice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
10 pickled shifka peppers (see note above)
¼ cup olive oil

DIRECTIONS

The night before, Put chickpeas in a tall pot and cover with 3-4 quart water. Soak chickpeas at room temperature overnight. (If you want to soak chickpeas for a full day, keep them in the fridge).
The next day, drain chickpeas, cover with water again, about 4 inches above chickpea level, add baking soda, mix and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Skim foam with a large spoon, lower heat, cover and cook for about an hour, mixing forcefully occasionally (this will help remove the skins), until chickpeas are very soft and almost fall apart. Remove skins as they float to top. The time of cooking depends on the chickpea variety and more than that, on how fresh the chickpeas are. If after one and a half hours the chickpeas are still not completely soft, there’s usually no use in cooking them further. You can still use them for the hummus, but expect it to be a little grainy.
Keep a cup of the cooking water and drain chickpeas in a colander. Wash chickpeas with cold running water to cool them down a little to room temperature.
Put 4 cups of the cooked chickpeas in a food processor (keep the rest for topping the hummus). Add garlic cloves, lemon juice, ½ cup of the cooking water and salt and process for 3 minutes until smooth.
Add tahini and process for another 8 minutes until smooth and fluffy. (if you use a Vitamix blender, process time would be shorter, but it’s better to make the hummus in half quantity at a time). Add more of the cooking water if you feel hummus is too thick, remember it gets thicker in the fridge, if you’re not consuming it the first day.
To make the tatbilah sauce, put lemon juice, shifka peppers and salt in a blender or a food processor and pulse to a chunky dressing. Transfer to a bowl, add olive oil and mix.
Let hummus rest and thicken for about 30 minutes. Serve in wide bowls, topped with tahini sauce , tatbila sauce, cooked chickpeas and roasted pine nuts (or any combination of these toppings), or keep in an airtight container for up to three days in the fridge.