Zahav’s Hummus ‘Tehina’
Updated Aug. 24, 2022
- Total Time
- 30 minutes, plus overnight soaking and 1 to 1½ hours cooking
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1cup dried chickpeas
- 2teaspoons baking soda
- Juice of 1½ large lemons (about ⅓ cup), more to taste
- 2 to 4cloves garlic, grated
- 1¾teaspoons kosher salt, more to taste
- 1cup sesame tahini
- ½teaspoon ground cumin, more to taste
- Paprika, for serving
- Olive oil, for serving
- Chopped fresh parsley, for serving
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
294 calories; 20 grams fat; 3 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 23 grams carbohydrates; 6 grams dietary fiber; 3 grams sugars; 10 grams protein; 357 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a bowl, cover chickpeas by at least 2 inches of cold water. Add 1 teaspoon baking soda and let soak at room temperature overnight. Drain and rinse.
- Step 2
In a medium pot, cover soaked chickpeas by at least 4 inches of water. Add the remaining teaspoon baking soda and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium high and let cook at a vigorous simmer until chickpeas are quite soft, 1 to 1½ hours. (Overcooked chickpeas are the secret to creamy hummus, so don’t worry if they start to break down a little.) Drain.
- Step 3
While chickpeas are cooking, make the tahini sauce. In a blender, combine the lemon juice, garlic and ¼ teaspoon salt. Let mixture sit 10 minutes. Add tahini, remaining 1½ teaspoons salt and the cumin, and blend until a thick paste forms. Add ⅓ to ⅔ cup ice water while blender is running, a little at a time, until sauce is smooth. You’re looking for a perfectly smooth, creamy sauce.
- Step 4
Add the warm, drained chickpeas to blender with tahini mixture. Blend until perfectly smooth and not at all grainy, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl occasionally. This blending may take upward of about 2 minutes; just keep going until the mixture is ultracreamy and fluffy, adding a little water if you need it to make the contents of the blender move. Taste for seasonings, adding more salt, lemon juice and/or cumin as needed.
- Step 5
To serve, spread the hummus on a plate, dust with paprika, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with parsley.
Private Notes
Comments
Be warned that this recipe is NOT as it appears in the book. They've tried to make it simpler, but you can't put this much tahini in a blender! The tahini and lemon juice should be combined *in a bowl*, after the lemon juice has been steeped with the garlic. Use a whisk to combine, adding cold water as needed to thin it out. The texture should be like waffle batter. Then make the hummus in a food processor, not the blender! Use the chickpea cooking water to thin the hummus if you like.
No one has commented on this, but while using baking soda does soften the chickpeas, it also accelerates leaching of many of the vitamins and minerals thus making this dish nutritionally empty. Overnight soaking and sufficient cooking make the chickpeas perfectly soft for making a creamy hummus. Also agree, after making hummus at least once a week for as many years as I can remember I would never use 1 cup tahini for this quantity of chickpeas. 1/4-1/2 c max.
Baking soda helps soften legumes (like chickpeas and beans) more quickly because it creates an alkali environment that weakens the beans’ pectic bonds. The result is super creamy hummus instead of dry & chunky hummus.
Ran thin on my end, added more chickpeas and just the paste from the tahini jar—problem solved. Needed some pop, so I added lemon zest and a heaping pinch of paprika, as well as za'atar. Best room temperature. Taste the Lebanese mountains with each spoonful.
This doesn’t really taste like what they serve at Solomonov’s restaurants but it’s still good. I think he uses way more salt at the restaurant (believe it or not).
I've made this recipe many times. It's the best hummus! I make the chickpeas in a pressure cooker which saves 45 minutes. Sometimes I shortcut the process even further ala "Cookie and Kate" by using canned drained chickpeas which cook for 30 minutes or 10 in a pressure cooker. The hummus never fails to impress!