Amazing Hummus

I used to buy ready made hummus at the grocery store or, when I was feeling adventurous, I'd whip up a batch using tinned chickpeas.  That was before I tried this recipe from Ottolenghi's cookbook Plenty.  This recipe uses dried chickpeas and, once you try it, you will not go back to the others.  The texture is so creamy.  There is none of that cloying preservative taste so often found in the store bought versions.  Feel free to play with the taste by adding cumin or hot sauce or paprika or whatever tastes you crave.  The base is wonderful.  It also freezes well.  I tend to put ice cream scoops of the stuff onto a parchment lined baking sheet, freeze and then store in ziploc bags in the freezer so there's always some for the kids' lunches.  (Remember the vegetarian child?)  Defrosts easily in the microwave to be slathered onto a wrap, covered with veggies and rolled into lunch.

Hummus
 (Makes 8-10 cups)

2 1/2 c dried chickpeas
1 1/2 tbsp baking soda
1 1/4 c tahini paste
3 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
6 garlic cloves, crushed
salt

Put the chickpeas in a large glass or plastic bowl and cover with at least double the volume of cold water.  Add 1 tbsp baking soda.  Soak overnight.

Place soaked (drained) chickpeas and remaining baking soda in a medium saucepan and cover with double the volume of cold water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 2-3 hours, until totally soft and easy to mush. Add more water during cooking if necessary to keep chickpeas immersed.  Drain, retaining cooking liquid.

Transfer warm chickpeas to a food processor and add tahini, lemon juice, garlic and 1 tsp salt.  Blitz for a minute or two until totally smooth.  Add some of the cooking liquid and blitz again.  You want the mixture to be soft and almost runny.  Taste and add more salt if you like.

This is best served warm but can be cooled and reheated or frozen (see above).  (It will get thicker when it cools so don't worry about making it too runny while warm.  Use your first attempt as a way to decide the texture you like best.)