Best Hummus Recipe

I have always been a lover of hummus and my recent trip to Israel and Jordan with Vibe Israel only solidified this love of mine! I ate hummus with EVERYTHING at almost every single meal! And I didn’t just eat my weight in hummus, I learnt a tonne about the history of this incredibly delicious and healthy dip.

I’ve always associated hummus with Middle-Eastern cooking and I wasn’t too far off the mark when it comes to hummus’ origins. The first reference to hummus appeared around 5000 years in Egypt where the Egyptians began crushing chickpeas into a paste and serving it as a condiment. Since then, it began to spread throughout the Levant region and through time until today! Crazy to think it’s been around for that long and is still taking the world’s tastebuds by storm!

Every person we met with on our Vibe Israel tour had their own version of hummus. I tend to feel as though there’s a unique hummus recipe for every Israeli, everyone has their own little spin they like to put on it whether it’s adding a pinch of curry powder, serving it with whole chickpeas on top or using ice cubes instead of water. But it was one addition that I was taken with. I was chatting with my taxi driver who was taking me over to the Levinksy Market in Tel Aviv and I was telling him about all the food I had eaten on our tour - a regular occurrence being hummus! He very firmly told me he knew the secret to the best hummus ever. His grandparents made it like this, his parents, and now he did too.

Hummus is made up of a handful of pretty common ingredients. Chickpeas, lemon, garlic, salt, tahini and perhaps some water.

And my taxi driver’s secret ingredient for the best hummus ever? Aquafaba.

Yep, that’s right. The brine from the can of chickpeas. Seemed odd to me but it stuck with me all the way home. So I got to working on it and sure enough, the guy was right! Ultra silky smooth hummus that’s not too thick or thin and is whipped to perfection with the help of the aquafaba. Who knew?!

I’ve included my full recipe below including the exact amount of aquafaba needed to make your best ever hummus yet!

Happy cooking guys,

Mel x

Hummus

Makes one bowl full

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained and dried

4 tbs aquafaba/brine from chickpea can

1/2 cup hulled tahini

1/3 - 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil (depends on how thick you like your hummus)

zest of one lemon

juice of a lemon

4 ice cubes

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

Pomegranate, parsley and sumac to garnish

Method:

Place tahini into a food processor and add ice cubes. Let them melt.

Then add everything else aside from the garnishes and process for at least 60 seconds until smooth. Scrape down the bowl and process for another 60 seconds to make sure everything is blended and smooth.

Spoon into a bowl or onto a plate and spread out. Drizzle with more extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle over parsley, pomegranate, and sumac then serve with warm pita bread.

*if you prefer a runnier hummus, add some extra ice cold water

Thank you to Vibe Israel for hosting me on their recent foodies tour. I had the best time!