Puréeing garlic in lemon juice and blending chickpeas while they’re hot = Israeli-style hummus that’s both smooth and flavorful.
Puréeing garlic directly in lemon juice prevents the formation of sharp, pungent compounds, delivering smoother garlic flavor.
Dried chickpeas provide better flavor than canned.
Overcooking the chickpeas in water with baking soda makes them easier to blend.
Puréeing the chickpeas while they’re still hot lets you use a blender instead of a food processor for smoother texture.
Store-bought versions of Israeli-style hummus—the kind made with tons of tahini and a touch of cumin—typically have a great, ultra-smooth and -creamy texture, but they lack flavor and aren’t easily customizable to our own personal tastes. Homemade hummus, especially when made with dried chickpeas, may have amazing flavor that we can play with any way we like, but it’s quite difficult to get it as smooth as the store-bought stuff. So what if you want hummus that is smooth and flavorful? Our recipe uses a few tricks to pack in flavor and give you great texture.

1 whole head garlic, broken into individual unpeeled cloves (about 20 cloves)
2/3 cup fresh juice from 3 to 4 lemons (160ml)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (2g)
1 generous cup tahini paste (about 10 ounces; 300g by weight)
Cold water
Kosher salt
Directions
Combine garlic and lemon juice in a blender. Pulse until a pulpy puree is formed, about 15 short pulses. Transfer to a fine mesh strainer set over a large bowl. Press out as much liquid as you can with the back of a spoon or a rubber spatula, then discard solids.

Add cumin and tahini paste to lemon/garlic juice and whisk to combine. The mixture will seize up and turn pasty. Add water a few tablespoons at a time, whisking in between each addition, until a smooth, light sauce is formed. The tahini sauce should very slowly lose its shape if you let ribbons of it drop from the whisk into the bowl. Season to taste with salt. Refrigerate for up to 1 1/2 weeks.

The night before, put the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover them with cold water at least twice their volume. Leave to soak overnight.

The next day, drain the chickpeas. Place a medium saucepan over high heat and add the drained chickpeas and baking soda. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the water and bring to a boil. Cook, skimming off any foam and any skins that float to the surface. The chickpeas will need to cook between 20 and 40 minutes, depending on the type and freshness, sometimes even longer. Once done, they should be very tender, breaking up easily when pressed between your thumb and finger, almost but not quite mushy.

Transfer the hummus to a bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap, and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. If not using straightaway, refrigerate until needed. Make sure to take it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving.

Why I picked this recipe: One of the most beloved (and contentious) dishes in Jerusalem, hummus is a must-cook recipe from this book. This more elaborate version with lamb and lemon sauce was too enticing to pass up.

What worked: This was hands-down the best hummus I’ve ever made or eaten. Topped with the slightly chewy and rich lamb and drizzled with bright lemon-parsley sauce, this was a dish I couldn’t stop eating.

What didn’t: Nothing. Perfect as written.

Suggested tweaks: If the recipe in its entirety is overwhelming, the hummus component on its own is absolutely worth making. Drizzled with a bit of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon, and you’ll still be in hummus bliss. If you can’t fine lamb neck fillet (and you’ll probably need to special order it if you can), you can substitute ground lamb or chop your own shoulder meat.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups/250 g dried chickpeas
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 1/2 cups/1.5 liters water
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons/270 g light tahini paste
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 cloves garlic, crushed
6 1/2 tablespoons/100 ml ice-cold water
salt

It is a testament to hummus that Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi would devote more pages (eight in total) to its preparation in Jerusalem: A Cookbook, more than anything else.

Hummus is the topic of many food debates in Jerusalem, and every person seems to have their own favorite preparation. Ottolenghi and Tamimi give their own tahini-rich recipe along with two variations, Musabaha (warm chickpea topping) and Kawarma (fried chopped lamb).

For the most show-stopping of hummus dishes, take the extra time and prepare the Kawarma. Freshly chopped lamb neck meat is marinated in warm spices, za’atar, vinegar, mint, and parsley before it’s fried in butter. The warm kawarma nestles into a generous scoop of hummus and the whole thing is topped with a bright and tangy sauce of lemon juice, parsley, and garlic. Scooped up with warm pita bread, this hummus will change your view of the ubiquitous dip for good.

What didn’t: The onion frying step took much longer than advertised, and I needed to fry the onions in five batches in order to not crowd the pot. Next time, I’d use a slightly bigger pot and go up on oil by a cup or so in order to fit more in each batch.

Suggested tweaks: The flavors and technique of this dish are pretty set in stone; that said, you could probably tweak the cooking times to use a different type of bean or brown basmati rice if you felt up to the task.

Drain the chickpeas. You should have roughly 3 2/3 cups/600 g now. Place the chickpeas in a food processor and process until you get a stiff paste. Then, with the machine still running, add the tahini paste, lemon juice, garlic, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Finally, slowly drizzle in the iced water and allow it to mix for about 5 minutes, until you get a very smooth and creamy paste.

The Mejadra recipe in Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi’s Jerusalem: A Cookbook is Tamimi’s take on the traditional Arab comfort food combination of rice, lentils, and onions. Here, the rice and lentils are steamed together with a plethora of spices, pilaf style, before adding the pièce de résistance–a smattering of freshly fried onions. It may seem strange to stir crisp fried bits into a steaming hot pot of rice, but the lost crunch factor is totally worth it considering the incredible depth of caramelized, salty flavor given over to the rice and beans. And never fear, fried-fiends, you’ll reserve some of the fried onions for topping off your bowl anyway.

Why I picked this recipe: A heavily spiced blend of lentils, rice, and fried onions seemed like a perfect bowl of comfort food for chilly late November evenings.

What worked: Once assembled, the dish far surpasses the sum of its parts—who knew such humble elements could taste so dynamic?

Blending whole garlic cloves in lemon juice prevents harsher garlic flavors from forming, leaving the sauce aromatic instead of pungent.
Whisking together the tahini and water slowly and thoroughly makes a light, smooth sauce.
The technique of blending whole unpeeled garlic with lemon to make tahini sauce was something I read in Michael Solomonov’s Zahav. With this much garlic you’d think it’d be overwhelming, but don’t worry, it stays quite mild due to blending it in the lemon juice.

1/2 pound dried chickpeas (1 generous cup; 225g); see note
2 teaspoons (12g) baking soda, divided
Kosher salt
1 small onion, split in half
1 small stalk celery
1 small carrot
2 medium cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 cups (350ml) Tahini Sauce With Garlic and Lemon
Extra-virgin olive oil, for serving
Za’atar, paprika, warmed whole chickpeas, and/or chopped fresh parsley leaves, for serving
Directions
Combine beans, 1 teaspoon (6g) baking soda, and 2 tablespoons (24g) kosher salt in a large bowl and cover with 6 cups (1.4L) cold water. Stir to dissolve salt and baking soda. Let stand at room temperature overnight. Drain and rinse beans thoroughly.