Black chickpeas hummus

May 8, 2018 Published by Dina

Always curious about unusual ingredients, I picked up black chickpeas on our travels and finally got around to using them. I think I brought these back from Italy, where they are known as ceci neri (black chickpeas) but I believe some variety also grows in India.

When dried they look small, black and wrinkly but these littles legumes pack a lot of flavour, dare I say even stronger flavour than the regular chickpeas.

Black chickpeas (credit)

I rinsed them well and soaked them overnight in plenty of water and let them stay in the soaking liquid until I got around to working with them later in the day. I then rinsed and cooked them in a pressure cooker for about 40 minutes and they came out perfect, remained whole, not mushy and fully cooked through.

The first thing I made with them is this simple hummus as we were having company that evening and I needed some appetizers. I treated them like regular chickpeas and then made a little tahini of rather runny consistency to drizzle on top of the hummus. These two flavours go well together, naturally, coming from the same cuisine. Serve the hummus with pita bread or thinly sliced artisan bread with warm olives and vegetable pickles on the side.

I also made a rice and chickpea dish that I hope to post next.

For more hummus recipes on the blog click here.

Enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 cup black chickpeas, dried (to soak)

2 tablespoons tahini paste

3 tablespoons olive oil

Juice from 1/2 a lemon

1 small garlic clove, optional

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup water or as needed

Garnish: chopped flat leaf parsley

Tahini garnish:

1/4 cup tahini paste

Juice from a wedge of lemons as needed

Salt and pepper

1/3 – 1/2 cups water or as needed, or use the cooking liquid from the chickpeas.

Directions:

Rinse and soak the dried chickpeas overnight in plenty of water to cover.

When ready to proceed drain and rinse the chickpeas and place in a pressure cooker with enough water to cover by an inch or so. Cover and pressure cook according to your pressure cooker directions for legumes. Mine (Fissler) took 40 minutes to cook. Drain or save the water for use in soups.

To make the hummus take about 2 cups of the cooked chickpeas and place in a blender or food processor (see note below). Use the rest of the cooked chickpeas on salads, add to soups etc.

Add the tahini paste, oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Add 1/3 cup of the water and begin processing scraping down as necessary and adding just enough water to reach the consistency you like.

Scrape it into a bowl and adjust the seasoning.

To make the tahini for garnish combine ingredients in a bowl and mix together until smooth, adding waster as needed to reach a creamy consistency.

To serve spoon the hummus onto a flat plate and with a back of a spoon smear around the plate.

Drizzle the tahini over the hummus in a circle.

Drizzle olive oil over the hummus.

Garnish with chopped parsley and additional chickpeas.

Sprinkle paprika over and serve with pita bread and warm olives.