Why my hummus tasted like spackle....

I came upon a blog on here called Desert Candy: http://desertcandy.blogspot.com/ and I was immediately drawn in by the photography of great food on this blog. As I scrolled down, I saw hummus. JACKPOT. I've been struggling to perfect my hummus, and as hummus fans know, the crap you buy in a tub at the store just doesn't stack up to the real thing. I stumbled upon a recipe not too long ago which called for canned Garbanzo beans, tahini (sesame seed paste), a splash of lemon juice, and some olive oil. To me, that sounded about right... so into the food processor my ingredients went... after a few whirls, I dumped it out into a bowl, took a huge scoop.. and... ew. This tasteless lump of creamed garbanzo was less than appetizing. In fact, it tasted like wall spackle and was the consistency of peanut butter. Well, lesson learned... here's where I messed up.
(before I confuse too many people.. FYI: chick peas and garbanzo beans are the same thing!)
The word Hummus literally translates to chick pea. Hmmm. Mistake #1, I used the garbanzo's right out of the can. I had put in equal parts tahini and garbanzo... mistake #2, because for every 3 cups of chick-peas, only 1/2 cup of tahini should be used. Well, that would explain the peanut butter consistency. Here's what Desert Candy posted as their recipe for Hummus...


Hummus bi Tahine

[2] 15oz cans of chick peas, rinsed

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup tahini (found next to peanut butter in most grocery stores)

1/2 cup [fresh squeezed] lemon juice

olive oil, parsley, and paprika for garnish

Place your rinsed chickpeas into a saucepan and cover with one inch of water. Gently rub the chickpeas together, and then place on stove and bring to a boil and simmer until chickpeas are very soft [they should easily smush in-between your fingers] and it could take between 2-7 minutes. Remove from heat and skim off skins that have floated to the top and discard them.

Drain the peas and reserve their liquid. Place the garlic and salt into food processor and pulse to chop. Add the Tahini and lemon juice and process until the mixture is slightly whitened and contracted. Add the chickpeas and process until very smooth. Thin the hummus to the desired consistency with the reserved cooking liquid. Taste and adjust seasoning with lemon juice and more salt.

Hummus should be served in a shallow bowl or plate, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with paprika, and parsley. Serve with tomato slices, red onion slices, pita bread... the list goes on. Hummus is also great spread on sandwiches, or used as a veggie dip.

my pita bread recipe to follow!