I Tried A Chef's Trick To Silky Smooth Hummus, And I'm Never Buying A Tub Again

Chickpeas; hummus; hummus with salad and chicken kebabHands up: I like to stick to certain chefs when it comes to baking recipes (I love Nigella Lawson’s chocolate cake recipe and her tiramisu, while I turn to Mary Berry for a blissful banoffee pie and perfect Yorkshire puddings).In fact, I swear by the pair for savoury dishes, like lemon tuna pasta, spaghetti bolognese, and lasagne too. But when I found myself craving hummus last weekend, I knew I had to turn to Ottolenghi’s former co-lead and recipe developer, Noor Murad. On Ottolenghi’s site, the author and chef admitted she was “amazed” to learn that people didn’t know hummus rules that felt second nature to her; one of which resulted in the creamiest, smoothest kind I’ve ever made. Hummus with kebabs and salad on left: ice in blender in middle: hummus on its own on rightAdd ice to your blenderI like to soak dried chickpeas with baking soda and salt before cooking them. It does take a lot more time, but it’s well worth it for meltingly tender legumes (I often find canned kinds are under-boiled for the job). Murad does the same thing; aside from helping you achieve the perfect chickpea texture, the bicarbonate of soda also helps chickpeas to naturally shrug their skins off, which results in a smoother paste. She adds cumin just before the chickpeas finish boiling, chucking them straight in the pot like salt. This added a noticeable depth of flavour. After agitating the chickpeas with a slotted spoon as they boil before draining them and rubbing ’em between two tea towels to banish as many skins as possible, the chef cooks the legumes once more with salt and cumin. Then comes the last chickpea drain (reserve the water for the blender).She blitzes them with lemon juice, garlic, tahini, salt, chickpea water, and (the biggest game-changer for me) ice cubes ’til smooth.This works, Tasting Table says, because “Ice cubes are full of tiny air bubbles that will infuse into your hummus as you blend all of the ingredients together,” resulting in lighter and fluffier hummus.The longer you blend with ice cubes, they add, the creamier the end product will be.Hummus with kebabs and saladWhat’s the verdict?The ice, which I have since used for (gasp) unskinned, canned chickpeas, makes the world of difference ― though again, if you can, taking the time to soak and boil your own results in about a 20% improvement in texture.If nothing else, the addition is a reminder to keep your blender running for a lot longer than you should (chefs swear by the advice for velvety smooth soup, too).All I can say is I’m never going back to tub hummus...Related...I Tried Mary Berry's Banoffee Pie, And It Was Perfect After This 1 ChangeI've Tried Over 20 Pavlova Recipes – This Is The Only One That Works Every TimeI Tried Nigella Lawson's 'Embarrassingly Easy' Nutella Cheesecake, And It Feels Like Cheating

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