Ingredients:
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp mustard
- 250 ml vegetable oil
- about 1 tbsp lemon juice
- salt to taste
- In a bowl, mix the egg yolk and salt with the mustard and stir it or whisk it until well combined. Adding the mustard from the beginning prevents the mayo to split. Make sure the egg is room temperature, it is easier to work with it.
- Start adding drops of the oil and keep mixing. Add the oil slowly, that is really the only secret.
- Once you have added have of the oil, the mayo should be thicker and you can add the rest of the oil faster, even in a slow, thin stream. Now the mayo should start changing its color and become really thick.
- Add the lemon juice, more salt if necessary, incorporate them and keep the mayonnaise in the fridge covered. Never let it sit to much at room temperature.
- If the mayonnaise is too thick, you can thin it with a little bit of water. If it is to thin, add some more oil and incorporate it as before.
Enjoy,
Ah,
hummus, one of those foods that I just love to have around. It’s so versatile
and keeps for long enough to be savored along side meats, vegetables or just
plain and simple with some olive oil and pita bread. And seeing as I always
keep in our fridge some tahini paste, that proved to be rather handy when we
decided to have a nice hummus meal. This recipe is so easy that, literally, anyone
can do it.
Honestly,
I think that hummus is one of those basic world-wide famous recipes that can be
cooked, at different levels, of course, by both experienced or novice foodies
(avoided to say chefs/cooks here because they can make hummus in their sleep).
The main things that you need here are a food processor and tahini paste, which
is basically a thick sesame paste that gives the flavor to the mashed chickpeas
that make the body of the hummus: my idea is the more the better, and I love
that slightly nutty, maybe a bit heavy taste to a tahini rich hummus.
Of
course, you need to balance that, and you use 2 things: garlic and lemon juice.
For the chickpeas, you can either go with the canned, pre-boiled ones, in which
case you can pop them straight into the blender/food processor, or you can boil
you own. In this case, I suggest leaving the beans to soak in cold water over
night, it really helps the boiling. You’ll know the chickpeas are done when you
take one out and you can easily mash it with your fingers (I have to say here,
I honestly don’t think chickpeas can be over boiled or that would be bad for
hummus). So, chickpeas in, add the tahini paste (for 500 grams of boiled beans
I put in 6 big tbs. of paste), the juice of 1 and a half lemon, 3 crushed
garlic cloves, 4 tbs. of olive oil, about 2-3 tbs. of salt and water (you can
use some of the water you cooked the chickpeas in).
Blitz
everything together and taste frequently for taste and check for thickness,
adding more water if necessary (you want it to have a thick oatmeal
consistency). The way I like to eat this is with a lot of sumac, which also has
a light sour note and gives a beautiful color and with some good quality olive
oil, and pita bread. Feel free to add some extra ingredients to the mix or on
top, after (mint, paprika, parsley, some fat yoghurt, etc., go crazy and try
different combinations).
Also
for this meal, we decided to make some salad, also inspired by another Levant
classic, fattoush. You’ll love this dish it has intense taste, a good level of sourness
and some nice crunch, and it all mixes incredibly with the hummus. Details in the next post.
Enjoy,
