I made this for a wedding and it was a big hit. I took a basic hummus recipe, divided it into 3 bowls, and then made 3 different flavorings. The result was gorgeous. The recipe below is for the entire batch, which was huge. I also divided the hummus flavors unevenly because I happened to have a nice matching bowl set in different sizes. Feel free to mix and match any way you wish.
The chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) I used came from dried beans. This made a lot more sense given the volume I was making. But canned works just as well (I like the Whole Foods organic). The dried have more flavor but the canned are just fine.
To make chickpeas, sort the beans to cull any bad ones. Rinse in cold water to remove dust (especially if you get yours from bulk bins). Put into a container filled with water and soak overnight (about 8 hours). Make sure there is plenty of water as the beans will soak up a lot more than you think. Also plenty of room to expand. If you soak over the course of a day, you can add water as needed.
Drain the water and discard (I used it to water an outdoor planter), put the beans into a pot and use approximately the same volume of water as beans. This will give you more water than you need, but you'll need some of that water to make the hummus. The rest can be frozen and used as soap stock. Add some salt to the water.
Cook the chickpeas at a low boil or high simmer for about an hour, or until they have a smooth texture with no grittyness but are not falling apart. Drain the chickpeas and reserve the water. Draining is optional but it will stop the cooking process and keep the beans from getting too soft. If you make the hummus right away, it's not an issue. But if you want to make it later on, I recommend it (and you should let them cook before processing just for comfort reasons).
I don't have a conversion for dried beans to canned but the dried ones do get considerably bigger, plus canned beans have a lot of liquid in the cans.
I made this by doing the base first, in several food processor batches, combined in a giant bowl. I made sure each batch had some of each of the ingredients and I adjusted as I went along as well as at the end. I tried to make the batches as thick as possible, while still being completely blended. If you are making a single kind, this is not necessary, but I knew my flavorings would use a lot of liquid and I didn't want the final product to be too thin. Remember, you can always thin out the hummus but you can't make it thicker.
My flavorings were made in the blender, cleaned inbetween. I used the food processor for the classic. If you are making a single kind, don't bother making the flavoring separately, just add it into the main batches.
Chickpeas, 2.5 lbs dried
Cooking water as needed, didn't measure but it was a couple of cups at least
Tahini (sesame butter, I prefer raw), 1 16 oz jar
Lemon juice (I used organic jarred, but fresh is great), about 12 oz
Salt, to taste but you will need a lot more than you think, I probably used
a couple of tablespoons
Extra virgin olive oil, to taste, about 1 cup (add at end, preferably when chilled,
not in food processor)
Fresh garlic, peeled, 6 cloves
Blend with extra cooking water and a pinch of salt until no chunks are left,
mix into hummus base
Fresh parsley, stems removed, chopped fine, about 1/3 cup
Just before serving, spread over top
Red sweet (bell is fine) pepper, deseeded, 1 medium pepper
Dried chipotle pepper, about 2" (this gives a mild zing; adjust as desired)
Paprika, dried ground spice, about 2 tablespoons (for color)
Blend very well, with extra cooking water as needed, and a pinch of salt, mix
into hummus base
Black pepper, a couple teaspoons
Fresh basil, leaves of one bunch
Fresh parsley, and handful of leaves and small stems (I prefer flat leaf)
Note: you can use more basil instead of parsley and you can punch up the flavor
with some basil oil if desire. Do not substitute dried basil, it will be awful
Blend with extra cooking water and a pinch of salt until mostly smooth, mix
into hummus base
Put in pretty matching or coordinating bowls. The classic hummus has chopped parsley on top. For the others, garnish with a couple fresh whole pieces of parsley. The basil hummus comes out green and the chipotle hummus is a beautiful smoky orange.
(posted to Foodlab 10/8/06)
