WanderSups: How to make the ultimate hummus – four ways

“I would always pick up a wrap stuffed with creamy hummus. . . even as I type these words, beads of drool pool at the corner of my mouth.” Honed over her decades-long love affair with hummus, Hannah Gregory shares four versions of the dip ideal for serving to guests (or scoffing straight from the fridge)

Hummus: a humble paste of chickpeas, tahini, lemon and garlic. Hailing from Arabian origins, a dish that was once perceived as exotic is now commonplace in most British fridges but, like the humble olive, it has not always been this way.

I have vivid memories of my Gran (Yorkshire born and bred, exotic to her was roast beetroot rather than pickled) watching a Delia cooking show and her eyes rolling as her beloved home cook, famed for the perfect Christmas turkey and exceptional Quiche Lorraine, suggested that if you could get your hands on them, a stuffed olive and a bowl of hummus was the most welcome addition to a tray of nibbles to impress guests.

Similarly, not too long ago, my aunt was regaling me with a story of how her grandchildren requested hummus and carrot sticks for lunch - “HUMMUS AND CARROT STICKS!?” she exclaimed, “I didn’t even know what hummus was till a few years ago. What happened to fish fingers and chips?”

I’m not sure if there has ever been such a generation-dividing food. Whilst my mother and her peers will tolerate it, I can’t imagine it’s top of their shopping list; one of my closest friends, however, won’t travel without a pot of the stuff. We used to work together in the Alps (not famed for their Middle Eastern dip selection) and lo and behold, everytime she unzipped her suitcase, there, pride of place, safely nestled in a tupperware, a couple of pots of hummus.

I can’t quite pinpoint when my love affair with hummus started’ I am going to hazard a guess at around 16 as it is soon after then my hummus memories begin to form. There was no lightning-bolt moment, the Earth did not stop spinning as I was presented with my first bowl. It was more just that one day it became a feature of life and it never really left.

My first year at university saw me living just off Green Lanes, in North London - the mecca of Middle Eastern fare. Be it walking home from lectures or crawling home from nights out, I would always pick up a wrap from one of the many Turkish restaurants that lined the path home, stuffed with creamy hummus, pickled chillies, crispy falafel - as I type these words, beads of drool pool at the corner of my mouth.

During the holidays I moved in with my boyfriend and his parents in a small quaint village in the Home Counties, where tahini had not quite made it to the shelves of the local store. One night my cravings got so bad I became like some sort of possessed beast, ripping through kitchen cupboards, looking for something, anything that I could mash together to resemble something similar and give me that hit I so desperately needed, shrieking at his mother, “What do you mean you don’t have cans of chickpeas?” and her shrieking back, “What the hell is a chickpea and why would I have one?!” The night was fraught and in the end I had to ask my boyfriend to drive me to the BIG Tesco, where I was confident they would have my beloved - it never hits quite the same as homemade, but it filled a hole.

Not long after that, back in London and the safety of varied cuisine, I met my Gran for lunch at Soho House (this was back in the early 2000s before it was oversubscribed). She asked what I would like to eat and passed me a menu, there sitting at the top ‘House Hummus’ for the cool price of £14. Instead of baulking at the price, little naive me thought this would surely be the best hummus I had ever tasted. To this day, nothing has ever disappointed me more - dry, claggy, under-seasoned Playdough sat in the bowl. Where was my smooth, silky, velvet-like dip? From that day forward, I vowed never to buy hummus again - it was my way or the highway.

And so, over the years, I have played with many variations of the stuff - flavouring it, changing quantities of ingredients, trying different methods to achieve the perfect silkiness. I truly believe nothing beats the OG and if something isn’t broken, don’t fix it but a) that would make me quite a boring chef and b) would make for a very short column. And so, I have shared four of my favourite versions including, of course, the classic.

I have to be quite regimented with myself these days. In my darkest moments I have been found in the fridge, scooping handfuls of the stuff with my bare fingers into my mouth. It was when my partner caught me in this heinous act I knew I had a problem and so, to help combat this, my blender lives in the furthest corner of the basement - if I am to make hummus now, I have to commit to the obstacle course of ‘it’ll go to the charity shop one day’ towers, climbing over them like Harry Potter trying to get to that cup in the Gringotts vault. The quest, however, is always worth it.

A quick note on the recipe: you do not need to shell your chickpeas, your hummus will still be fine. However, if you want the silkiest hummus in all the land, do not skip this step. Chickpea skin is also quite hard for us to digest so adding this element in means less bloat - win-win.

To shell a chickpea there are two methods:

1) Drain (reserving the water from the can) and put in a bowl of water and gently stir and massage with your fingers until they begin to shuck themselves.

2) Drain (reserving the water from the can), gently tip the drained chickpeas onto sheets of kitchen towel, place sheets on top and gently rub the peas between the towels. When you lift off the top sheet you will see the shells have started to lift off the pea.

THE OG

What you need:

● 250g chickpeas (drained, chickpea juice reserved)

● Half a lemon, juiced

● 2 cloves garlic, minced

● 70ml EVOO

● 60ml tahini (room temperature)

● Salt to taste

● Sumac

How you do it:

1. Shell your chickpeas using one of the above methods.

2. Add the chickpeas to a blender with the juice of half a lemon, garlic, olive oil and tahini and blend.

3. Add half the chickpea juice and blend again, adding more if needed to get your desired consistency - I usually use all the juice because I like mine super sloppy.

4. Taste and add salt as required.

5. Serve with an extra drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of sumac.

WHITE BEAN & ZA’TAR HUMMUS

What you need:

● 250g white beans (I used butter beans, but you could use haricot, cannellini, navy etc)

● Half a lemon, juiced

● 2 cloves garlic, minced

● 70ml EVOO

● 60ml tahini (room temperature)

● Salt to taste

● 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

● 1 tablespoon dried thyme

● 1 tablespoon sumac

● 1 tablespoon flaky salt

How you do it:

1. Drain the beans, reserving the water.

2. Add the beans to a blender with the juice of half a lemon, garlic, olive oil and tahini and blend.

3. Add half the bean juice and blend again, adding more if needed to get your desired consistency - I usually use all the juice because I like mine super sloppy.

4. Taste and add salt as required.

5. To make the za’tar, mix the sesame seeds, sumac, thyme and salt.

6. Sprinkle the za’tar over the hummus and serve.

SWEET POTATO HUMMUS

What you need:

● 1 medium sweet potato

● 1 tablespoon tahini (room temperature)

● Half a lemon, juiced

● 1 clove garlic, minced

● Pinch cumin

● Salt to taste

● EVOO

● Sesame seeds and chilli flakes to garnish

How you do it:

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C.

2. Prick your sweet potato all over and roast for 40 minutes.

3. Leave to cool completely, then scoop the flesh into a bowl and mash with a fork.

4. Add the tahini, lemon, garlic and cumin and mix well.

5. Season to taste.

6. If the mix is looking too claggy, loosen with some olive oil, or depending on your tahini, you can drain some oil from the top and use this.

7. Serve drizzled with EVOO and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.

BLACK BEAN HUMMUS

What you need:

● 250g cooked black beans and their juice (you can used tins or cook from scratch)

● 30ml EVOO

● Salt as needed

● 2 tablespoons tahini (room temperature)

● 2 black garlic cloves

● 1 lime, juiced

● 50g feta, plus extra for garnish

How you do it :

1. Add all the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and silky.

2. Adjust seasoning with salt and consistency with bean juice as needed.

3. Garnish with crumbled feta.

A former BBC MasterChef quarter finalist, Hannah hosts WanderSups supper clubs, “serving meals created with love, inspired by journeys around the world, dished up on home turf”. Her ethos is simple - have fun, enjoy it, make it an occasion. To find out more click HERE.