I’ve made a lot of hummus in my time. Now the absolute best hummus is made with freshly-cooked chickpeas and ground when the chickpeas are freshly cooked. It’s even better if you use those tiny, nuggety organic chickpeas which are packed with flavour.  There are any number of excellent recipes for hummus out there, including this classic from Paula Wolfert. Smitten Kitchen recently posted a hummus recipe which Deb Perelman proclaimed the smoothest, creamiest hummus ever. This involved peeling your chickpeas after cooking them. I have never tried this version because as MUCH as I love hummus (and I really, really love hummus), the thought of painstakingly peeling each chickpea is absolutely too much to contemplate.

Then, if you just want to be a bit slack and not get too obsessive about your hummus, a super quick, really excellent hummus can be made using canned chickpeas, which is about a thousand times better than the commercial variety of hummus you can buy at your local supermarket (except, of course, it’s one of those gourmet, super-expensive tubs of hummus) but then, you have to ask yourself is it worth paying six or seven dollars for one of those incy-wincy tubs (not even a cup of hummus), when it is so damn easy to make yourself.

I often make the slacko canned chickpea version of hummus and, when I do, I usually turn it into a green herb hummus, which simply means I throw in a handful or two of fresh mint or coriander or parsley, or a combination of all three, and believe me, the zing of the fresh herbs turns the slacko hummus into something that is actually quite awesome and could be in contention for the ‘best hummus ever’ award. Best of all, it is something that can be made at a moment’s notice for an afternoon snack. The most labour intensive thing about it is washing up the food processor after you’ve finished.

Note on the recipe

This is a fairly loose recipe, because I find I make my best hummus when I don’t get too hung up on following a recipe. In fact, I’ve made  my worst hummus ever when I was following a recipe. The only thing I usually do which is a slight hassle, is I crush the garlic with salt with a mortar and pestle and this mellows the garlic, but I’ve made perfectly awesome hummus when I’ve just chopped the garlic and thrown it into the food processor with everything else. The really important thing to remember when making hummus after you’ve ground your chickpeas and other ingredients into a paste, you should add extra water slowly until you get the desired creamy texture because if you add too much water, your hummus will be watery, not creamy, and will be totally NOT awesome. THIS was the mistake I made when I made my worst hummus ever.

Super quick and awesome green herb hummus

• 2 x 400grams chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 2–3 cloves of garlic crushed to a paste with ½ teaspoon of sea salt
• 3–4 heaped spoonfuls of tahini
• 1–2 lemons juiced
• A good slurp of extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ – ½ a cup of water
• 1–2 handfuls of fresh mint or parsley or coriander or a combination of all three

1. Place chickpeas, herbs, tahini, lemon juice, olive oil and garlic in food processor.
2. Process until well combined, then taste and adjust seasonings adding more lemon juice, tahini, salt, if desired. Gradually add water and process until the hummus reaches desired creamy consistency (careful not to put in too much water, because this really wrecks your hummus).
3. To serve,  spoon into a bowl and drizzle with a little olive oil, sprinkle with paprika or sumac and some chopped herbs.

Vegan, gluten-free