Smooth & Creamy Hummus

I've made homemade hummus before, but it never turned out nice and smooth.  I came across this blog post about making smooth hummus recently.  The trick is taking the bean skins off!!  So I tried this and it totally worked.  It was a bit tedious to remove the skins, but the blogger has tips.  I made this on a weekend so my husband helped.  We even doubled the batch.  Lol.  So, we skinned two cans of beans.  It actually doesn't take that long, and it's totally worth it.  We enjoyed this hummus with falafel (store-bought, unfortunately), tomato/cuke salad, Israeli-Style Eggplant (recipe coming soon), and homemade flat bread.  I was inspired by our recent trip to Krakow, Poland, where I had the best falafel plate, and the next day, falafel sandwich, of my life.  Lol.  (Don't worry, we also ate delish pierogis.)

Creepy-looking bean skins, above.

Smooth & Creamy Hummus

adapted from NeighborFood

1 15 ounce can chickpeas*
1/2 cup tahini paste
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2 small cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt, or more to taste
Reserved chickpea water from the can
Olive oil, parsley, paprika and/or sumac for serving

1.  Drain the chickpeas, reserving the juice in a small cup. *Don't forget to reserve the juice!!  I did the first time, so we had to double the recipe to use another can's juice.  Lol.

2.  Remove the skins from the chickpeas. The easiest way to do this is to pinch the chickpeas between your thumb and forefinger, with the pointy side facing your hand. Squeeze the chickpea and the skin should pop right off. Place the skinned chickpea in the blender, and the skins in the trash.

3.  Once all the chickpeas are skinned and in the blender (or food processor), pulse until the chickpeas are in sandy looking crumbles. You may need to stop and shake the blender and/or scrape down the sides a few time.

4.  Add the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, and salt, and blend until smooth, scraping the bowl as needed.
Slowly add the chickpea water to the mix until the mixture can blend without catching and is completely smooth. I usually use nearly all of the reserved water.  Chill the hummus for an hour or so. To serve, top with olive oil, parsley, and sprinkle with paprika and/or sumac.

**This post and photos are property of http://dishingwithdish.blogspot.com/ **