Chickpea Universal

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The classic for a reason. But only the beginning to cooking and baking with chickpeas! (Basic hummus recipe by my friend Dawn).

Recipe by Dawn [author information]

Ingredients for ‘Chickpea Universal’

  • 30 oz. chickpeas (2 cans per 15 oz./400g), which equals about 2 ½ cups or 250g pre-cooked chickpeas
  • ¾ cup tahini (180 ml).
  • Zest and juice of one medium lemon
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon coriander (or 4 -5 fresh cilantro leaves to replace ½ teaspoon dried and chopped coriander).
  • ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
  • ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup olive oil (60 ml).
  • Ice water, as needed

Add-ins that can be stirred in after the hummus is processed.

  • Chopped sun-dried tomatoes (½ cup, or 7-8 tablespoons).
  • Chopped olives
  • Red pepper puree

Preparations for ‘Chickpea Universal’

  1. Drain the chickpeas. Put all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth, adding ice water as needed to achieve desired consistency.
  2. You can leave it plain, or stir in additional flavors. See above for ideas. You can also drizzle the hummus with olive oil for serving.

Serve with pita, raw vegetables, or other dippers.

Side Notes:

  1. Do get adventurous, I dare you! Prepare the hummus from dried chickpeas according to the great instructions on the website from Hülsenreich (“Braver than Ever”, see the Table Talk aka Ingredient Special about Chickpeas from this month and look at the link list on the InfoByteSized page under “Ingredient Specials” and “Chickpeas”). Needless to say, you can keep the water from the chickpea cans – or from cooking them yourself after soaking them and rinsing them off. This ‘aquafaba’ makes a splendid substitute for egg whites in plant-based cuisine.
  2. If you do not like normal garlic, try wild garlic leaves, aka bear’s garlic, instead (fresh, frozen, dried, or in oil). I would use about 1 – 2 teaspoons of it (for all options, except fresh leaves). Using fresh leaves, you will need about 6 – 7 large ones of them (after washing and chopping them).
  3. Thank you, Dawn, for sharing this recipe!