My Israeli Hummus Recipe

Well, ok, maybe that's taking it too far, but it certainly is a huge deal here in Israel.

Hummus is much more than a food in Israeli culture. Often referred to as our national food, it is the topic of an intense ongoing public debate: Who makes the best hummus in Israel. Every once in a while, you will find a new list published in one of the leading newspapers, citing the best hummus joints in the country, with an endless stream of heated online comments defending one restaurant or another.

Obviously, there is more than one way to make "the perfect hummus".

That said, you will never find any of the variants I see in American hummus recipe pages. Any restaurant that would ever serve hummus that contains peppers, oranges, avocado, tomatoes, beans or any other strange combination would be shut down. Not that any Israeli would dream of doing that. I mean, honestly. To an Israeli like myself, these recipes are nothing short of blasphemy!

This does not mean you can't have variety - but variety comes from gentle tweaking of the basic ingredients and not by creating something which is anything but hummus.

So, I am writing this hub to call out to the world out there: please stop abusing hummus!

Hummus is a simple dish and easy to prepare at home.

Ingridients:

• 2 cups of dry small chickpeas (not canned and not the huge Mexican variety)
  
• 2/3 cup of plain raw tehini
• 2 spoonfuls of fresh lemon juice
• optional: a couple of garlic cloves
  
• Salt and water.

Soak the chickpeas in water for 24 hours and change the water at least once while doing it.

Cook the chickpeas, covered in water until soft. It should be very soft - the softer the better and it's ok if they start getting mushy. You end up with quite a lot of chickpeas now that they're cooked - way more than two cups. Take out one cup, drain and put aside for later.

In a food processor, grind the cooked chickpeas along with the tehini until their texture is fine and feels like a spread of paste. Add lemon juice, crushed garlic and salt to taste.

That's it - you have yourself real hummus right there.

Serve while it's still warm, in a small bowl or a plate, with a drizzle of olive oil on top and a couple of spoonfuls of cooked whole chickpeas.

Getting your hummus right can take a few tries. Yes, the basic recipe is fairly straight-forward but to get that perfect taste, you will need to play around with your quantities and methods. Things that can effect the flavor and texture are -

• Cooking time - some people cook their chickpeas for hours on end with a smoother end result.
• Amount of tehnihi - you can have double the amount of tehini and even more.
• Seasoning - lemon, garlic and salt can really change the flavor of hummus. Play around to get your perfect combo.

Hummus is all about creativity, but stick to the basics and keep it low-keyed. Homemade hummus is almost always better than anything you can get in the supermarket (though probably won't be as good as anything produced by a real hummus master who runs his own hummus joint).

, now that you have your hummus, is that all there is to it?

Well, you can and should serve what is known in Hebrew as "tossafot" or toppings. The idea is not to grind anything into the hummus itself, but rather serve it on top, for extra crunchiness and flavor.

The basic topping is a drizzle of olive oil, and some chopped parsley. Other common toppings offered in Hummus joints -

• Fava beans - cooked until soft.
• Tehini - white tehini paste poured unto the hummus.
  
• Extra chickpeas - as described in the recipe above.
• Roasted Pine nuts
  
• Mushrooms - cooked with fried onions until brown and soft.
• Ground beef or mutton - cooked and fried with some onion.

In addition to any of these, you can add a hard boiled egg (sliced and served on top of the hummus).

Just please keep in mind - these all go on top of the hummus. Do not grind anything into your hummus other than the ingredients listed in the recipe above.

How to Eat Your Hummus

Hummus is not a dip. You are not supposed to dip anything into it - so forget about celery sticks or tortilla chips. The only real authentic way to eat your hummus is wiping it off the plate or bowl using a piece of fresh warm pita bread. Forget about forks and spoons - go for the full experience. Just make sure your pita is warm and very fresh. Avoid pre-heating pita bread in the microwave - heat it up in a toaster oven instead.

Hummus is best served fresh and warm. Cook the chickpeas and prepare your hummus while they are still very warm, for the best effect. You can keep hummus for a couple of days if it's well refrigerated and it makes for a good spread for sandwiches - again, best served in a pita bread pocket.