Israeli Hummus Recipe

You've seen it in the stores. Now you can make it at home.

By Joan Nathan 

Reprinted with permission from The Foods of Israel Today (Knopf).

I have been making hummus for years and have concluded that despite the temptation to use canned chickpeas, the flavor is much better when it is made with dried chickpeas found at Middle Eastern or Indian food stores.

First I soak a large quantity overnight, cook some, and then drain and freeze the rest in two-cup batches in plastic bags.

Whenever I need them for hummus, falafel, or for the many chickpea soups and stews in this book, I just take them out of the freezer. When substituting canned beans, figure that one cup of raw chickpeas equals two cups of cooked or canned. Some old-time cooks in the Middle East either peel cooked chickpeas or pass them through a food mill before using them. I find there is no need for this laborious extra step. I add to my hummus a little bit of cumin, which blends beautifully with the garlic and lemony flavor.

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