Updated 16 January with this tip: For hummus, the best result is obtained when the “skin” is removed from the chickpeas. This is quite bothersome and time consuming and have hardly ever done that now. However, I have discovered that you can now buy dried chickpeas with the skins removed in bio supermarkets, at least in Berlin, of the brand Vivaterra. Also, to make sure that the chickpeas get nice and mushy fo the purpose, add a heaped teaspoon baking soda (natron) to the water in which you soak the chickpeas for 8-10 hours. Rinse before boiling in new water.

400 g cooked chickpeas (if you must use tinned, then rinse thoroughly)

Salt

3-4 cloves garlic

3-5 tblsp (up to 150 g) tahini

2 tblsp olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

1,5 tsp roasted cumin seeds

If you are not using skinless chickpeas as mentioned in italics above, try to rinse and remove as many skins as possible. Then process all ingredients, tasting along the way, and add more of everything as needed.

Obvously, the creamier you want your hummus, the longer you have to process – up to ten minutes, which means the processor can run warm, and thus warm up the hummus. To counter that, instead of adding the cold water all at once, add an ice cube at intervals.

Refrigerate for a couple of hours to settle.