Simply combine all ingredients to your blender or food processor, and blend until smooth and creamy. You may need to scrape down the sides several times. Set aside until you are ready to serve.
Store remaining hummus in an airtight container in the fridge. It will keep for up to 5 days.
Homemade hummus is a classic in our house. Tracey probably creates a hummus recipe weekly, if not more, while Benoit gives it a try every time we remember to soak the dried chickpeas. Regardless, there is always a batch of hummus in the fridge, a large batch being just enough to last a couple of days. As such, we are open to trying variants, bringing a little change into the recipe to break the routine. When we discovered a hemp seeds hummus recipe from Simon Hill of @plantproof, we were inspired and decided to make our variation.
Hemp seeds are a misunderstood food; this stigma remains due to misinformation. Hemp and marijuana are simply broad classifications of Cannabis — and hemp is a term used to describe non-intoxicating Cannabis varieties containing 0.3% or less THC content (by dry weight). So this hummus variation will not get you high, yet what a variety! Hemp seeds are known to give a creamy texture to any sauce or smoothie, and it doesn't do otherwise in this hummus recipe — this hemp seed homemade hummus is the creamiest hummus I've ever made. I love swirling its rich, smooth texture with a spatula. If you are anything like me, you will thoroughly enjoy spreading this creamy hummus on a nice slice of sourdough bread.
A classic hummus delivers nutty flavours, a plain taste that the addition of hemp seeds will lift here. A versatile food, this hummus is perfect for complementing your lunch, picnic, an afternoon snack, and will pair very well with toast, falafels or burgers, tacos or why not as a pasta sauce? Possibilities are infinite, and that is why we love this recipe. If you're planning to serve this hummus on its own, you cannot go wrong with a drizzle of olive and extra hemp seeds sprinkled on the top, and why not some flaky sea salt. I recently learned a new word, scrumptious, and I think it definitely applies to this hummus recipe. Enjoy!
Few mistakes can turn your hummus into a flunked dip. Below is a compilation of what we learnt from our past errors, in addition to tips to create the best homemade hemp seeds hummus.
Buy chickpeas in bulk. It's not a secret; we mostly buy our food in bulk from GoodFor store — you can read our interview with founder James Denton here, and we encourage you to purchase in bulk where possible. We are buying dried chickpeas and soaking them overnight rather making hummus from canned chickpeas ; it is more cost-effective. I also tend to find hummus made from dried chickpeas creamier with a more vibrant flavour than canned. And dried chickpeas also contain less salt than canned varieties.
Soak the chickpeas. If you have the time and remember in advance, soak your chickpeas overnight, a good eight hours in filtered water. Add 3 cups of water for 1 cup of dried chickpeas, using a large bowl because chickpeas will triple in size. However, for Benoit and I, the necessity of soaking chickpeas overnight is also the first reason why we fail to prepare homemade hummus; we always forget to soak them in advance! So here is another tip for a quick soak. For 1 cup of dried chickpeas, boil 3 ½ cups of filtered water and let the chickpeas soak in for one hour.
Cook the chickpeas. With dried chickpeas, you need to cook them after the soaking, draining and rinsing steps. In our house, that cooking step brought some dramatic moments. Taking quite a long time to prepare, often someone would forget there were chickpeas on the stove and with the water evaporating, the entire pot of chickpeas would ruthlessly burn; and the pot with them. Never the house, though.
The method to avoid unfortunate chickpea loss is the following. In a large pot on high heat, add 3 cups of filtered water for 1 cup of soaked chickpeas. Cover and bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and simmer for approximately one hour and a half. My best advice is to set a thirty minutes timer, to compel yourself on checking the water level every thirty minutes. If the water is down to the chickpeas, add a little bit more, so they always stay submerged. Keep the water simmering, not boiling, or the chickpeas will overcook and break. After one hour and a half of cooking, and three alarms on, chickpeas will be ready for blending.
Also, tender chickpeas make smoother, creamier hummus. To achieve that extra softness, cook the chickpeas with the pot lid on but slightly shifted, a bit opened, to allow the steam to vent.
Blender or food processor? You can use both! Benoit and I own a small blender, the Vitamix S30, so we have been using this appliance to do our homemade hummus, and it works pretty well. This blender is powerful enough to create that rich, creamy texture we are aiming for. However, it requires a high-speed blender like Vitamix; otherwise, it won't process sufficiently.
On the other end, Tracey uses her food processor; a good quality processor will work more efficiently than a standard blender, except a Vitamix — an exception because of its powerful motor. The food processor will handle a large volume very easily, and needs to process for a long time for a super smooth hummus.
Don't forget the oil or the tahini. Liquids are essential for processing hummus ingredients, especially if you are using a blender, liquids help the blades going through the mixture, combining the ingredients. For this reason, always add the oil and other liquids first, like lemon juice. For groundless reasons, I am often reluctant to pour the volume of olive oil recommended in the recipe, maybe because olive oil is quite expensive in New Zealand? Anyway, results are I am taking twice the time necessary to blend the chickpeas. So, in case the texture feels hard against the blades, the processing is noisy and your blender is struggling, do not hesitate to add oil — or filtered water if you are limiting fat intake, one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved. Using a spatula is handy at this stage, to push water to the bottom of the jug before blending.
Finally, the tahini. Once I thought I was a hummus master, I prepared this recipe without double-checking the ingredients, oil, lemon juice, hemp seeds, et cetera, and I made a huge batch. Well, it turned out I forgot the tahini. And that changed almost everything. The flavour was so bland; it was basically a creamy chickpea puree with virtually no taste. And eventually, mixed with tomatoes, it ended up as a pasta sauce. So yes, don't forget the tahini. And above all, enjoy this homemade hummus recipe.
