I’m a little afraid that I’m venturing into touchy territory here but I’m going to go for it anyway, because this recipe is too good not to enlighten you with. See, people seem to be really defensive about their hummus choices. The from-scratch-hummus-makers have strong beliefs about using dry vs. canned chickpeas, and the ratio of chickpea to tahini. And buyers of hummus are a brand loyal bunch, myself included – I once had a near meltdown in the prepared food aisle of Fairway when I realized they’d stopped carrying my preferred brand of the stuff. But, once again, Yotam Ottolenghi has proven that you do not know best when it comes to delicious food. He’s given us a recipe for the perfect hummus. There’s no going back to your canned chickpeas or hummus in a tub.
I think it’s the texture of this hummus that really sets it apart. I mean, it’s downright silky. It’s probably the result of cooking your chickpeas in a pot of water with baking soda – which, by the way, creates the weirdest smell. I couldn’t figure out if I loved it or was disgusted by it. I digress. Once your beans are cooked until fat and tender, into the food processor they go to get blitzed up with some tahini and olive oil. I let my hummus stay a little thick, but you can add water until it reaches your preferred consistency.
You could stop there, but I don’t see why you would. With the time-intensive part already out of the way, unless you’re an alien who doesn’t like lamb, you should definitely proceed to make a ground lamb topping that is packed with tons of spices that work together in ways you can’t fully appreciate just by looking at the ingredient list.
If you’ve gotten that far, there’s very little stopping you from throwing together a very quick and easy lemon sauce to top the whole thing off. It’s the perfect acidic contrast to your rich, creamy hummus and the warm spices of the lamb and adds brightness to the dish.
While this post is very “if you give a mouse a cookie” in nature and you could very well just settle for making the most delicious hummus in the world, I say go all out! It’s an impressive dish for guests, and it’s a great option for stuffing into Greek-style pitas to make hybrid versions of gyros, something I’m guilty of having done for several days straight.
It doesn’t quite seem like the holidays are around the corner yet and I’m a little (read: completely) behind on all things shopping and cooking, but I promise to get to some festive recipes soon, before the festival of lights and Jesus’ birthday have both come and gone. In the meantime, enjoy this Middle Eastern offering!
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups / 250g dried chickpeas
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 6 1/2 cups / 1.5 liters water
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp / 270g light tahini paste
- 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 6 1/2 tablespoons / 100ml ice-cold water
- Salt
- 10 1/2 oz / 300g neck fillet of lamb, finely chopped by hand, or ground lamb
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 freshly ground white pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon crushed dried za'atar or oregano leaves
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon chopped mint
- 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter or ghee
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon pine nuts, toasted in the oven or fried in a little unsalted butter
- 1/3 oz / 10g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped, plus more for garnish
- 1 green chile, finely chopped
- 4 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/4 teapsoon salt
Instructions
- To prepare the hummus, the night before, put the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover them with cold water at least twice their volume. Leave to soak overnight.
- The next day, drain the chickpeas. Place a medium saucepan over high heat and add the drained chickpeas and baking soda. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the water and bring to a boil. Cook, skimming off any foam and any skins that float to the surface. The chickpeas will need to cook between 20 and 40 minutes, depending on the type and freshness, sometimes even longer. Once done, they should be very tender, breaking up easily when pressed between your thumb and finger, almost but not quite mushy.
- Drain the chickpeas. You should have roughly 3 2/3 cup / 600g now. Reserve 4 tbsp of the chickpeas to use for topping the kawarma. Place the rest of the chickpeas in a food processor and process until you get a stiff paste. Then, with the machine still running, add the tahini paste, lemon juice, garlic and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Finally slowly drizzle in the iced water and allow it to mix for about 5 minutes, until you get a very smooth and creamy paste.
- Transfer the hummus to a bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. If not using straightaway, refrigerate until needed. Make sure to take it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving.
- To prepare the kawarma and lemon sauce, place all the ingredients apart from the butter or ghee, oil and pine nuts in a medium bowl. Mix well, cover and allow the mixture to marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Just before you are ready to cook the meat, place all the ingredients for the lemon sauce in a small bowl and stir well.
- Heat the butter or ghee and the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the meat in two or three batches and stir as you fry each batch for 2 minutes. The meat should be light pink in the middle.
- Divide the hummus among 6 individual shallow bowls, leaving a slight hollow in the center of each. Spoon the warm kawarma into the hollow and scatter with the reserved chickpeas. Drizzle generously with the lemon sauce and garnish with some parsley and the pine nuts.
Notes
From Jerusalem
