Hummus (Revythosaláta)
Photo: Donovan Govan., CC BY-SA 3.0
Hummus made the slow way, with dried chickpeas cooked until very soft and rubbed free of their skins, gives a noticeably smoother dip than one made from a tin. This version uses twelve cloves of garlic and plenty of lemon, and the chickpea cooking liquid thins it to the right texture. It is not originally Greek, but it is served as revythosaláta, and it freezes well.
Instructions
Soak the dried chickpeas in water overnight, then drain them. If you are using tinned chickpeas, skip the soaking and cooking steps and go straight to rinsing.
Put the soaked chickpeas in a large pot with the 9 cups of generously salted water and the tablespoon of cooking oil. Use a pot several times larger than the contents, since the chickpeas foam, though the oil keeps this down. Simmer gently for about 3 hours, or 10 minutes plus cooling time in a pressure cooker, until they are very soft but still whole.
Drain the chickpeas and keep a few cups of the cooking liquid for thinning the hummus later.
Rinse the chickpeas under plenty of cold water, rubbing them gently between your hands so the skins come loose and float away. Change the water several times until most of the skins are gone, then drain again.
In a food processor, mix the lemon juice with the tahini until combined.
Purée or mash the chickpeas in batches, adding the lemon and tahini mixture, the olive oil and some reserved cooking liquid as needed to reach the texture you want. Add the garlic to the batch with the olive oil and process until smooth.
Tip the purée into a large bowl and stir in the salt and pepper with a spoon. If it is still too thick, loosen it with a little more cooking liquid.
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