Musical Fruit: A worker beholds the majesty of a bevy of dried chickpeas. Image by Getty Images

Editor’s Note:

Following his pilgrimage to the Sabra Dipping Company plant, we asked author Orr Shtuhl to provide us with his secret recipe that made hummus a mainstay in the Shtuhl household.

Shtuhl Family Hummus Recipe

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Although neither of my grandmothers made hummus at home, my parents, brother, and I make hummus using a method so often ascribed to grandmas everywhere: judge by sight; measure nothing.

Ingredients:

Some chickpeas

Some baking soda

Some tahini

Some garlic

Some cumin (or not)

A lemon

1. Take a one-pound bag of dry chickpeas and pour half of it into a bowl or pot (if I ever started with another size bag, I’d be lost). Cover with cold water and let soak overnight.

2. Drain chickpeas, cover with fresh water and two hard squeezes from the baking soda box, and boil until they’re soft as baby food. Drain the cooked chickpeas. In case of steam burns, curse softly.

3. In a food processor, do as Michael Solomonov does and blend 2-3 cloves of garlic with juice from half a lemon. Let garlic macerate in the acid for a few minutes, snacking on the hot chickpeas to pass the time.

4. Add tahini to the food processor: Use a soup spoon to scoop out the two most gigantic gobs of solids you can manage, then tip over the jar and pour in some oil. Then, add water equal to the amount of tahini, knowing it will never be enough and you’ll add more later. Add salt.

5. Blend the whole thing together with the chickpeas for a few minutes, until completely smooth. Taste, and realize you forgot to add cumin. It’s ok, try to remember next time. In fact, many people vow that cumin isn’t traditional in hummus to begin with. Congratulate yourself for upholding tradition.

6. Taste for salt, acid, and richness, adding more of the ingredients if necessary. If you eat hummus straight from the fridge, your consistency here should be short of soupy but still uncomfortably thin; it will thicken up when it cools.

7. Serve hummus immediately. After dinner, transfer leftovers to a container, and enjoy the chef’s snack of licking the spatula. Do not lick food processor blade (personal experience).

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount