Zahav Hummus is a creamy, airy Israeli-style dip from Philadelphia's acclaimed Zahav restaurant, built on a silky homemade tahini sauce infused with roasted garlic and bright lemon juice. The secret to its luxurious texture is Zahav's basic tehina—an emulsion of tahini, garlic, lemon, and water blended until impossibly smooth.
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Break up the head of garlic with your hands and drop – skins and all – into a blender. Add lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Blend on high for a few seconds until you have a coarse puree. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes to let the garlic mellow.
Pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer set over a large mixing bowl, pressing the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids. Add the tahini along with cumin and 1 teaspoon of the salt.
Whisk mixture together until smooth (or use a hand mixer or food processor), adding ice water, a few tablespoons at a time, to thin it out. This sauce will lightened in color as you mix and will look grainy before it looks smooth. When the tahini seizes up or tightens, keep adding ice water, bit by bit (about 1 1/2 cups in total), whisking energetically until you have a perfectly smooth, creamy and thick sauce.
Taste and add up to 1 1/2 teaspoons more salt and cumin if you like. If you're not using the sauce immediately, whisk in a few tablespoons of ice water to loosen it before refrigerating.
Combine chickpeas, tehina, salt and cumin in a food processor. Puree the hummus for several minutes, until it is smooth and oh-so-creamy. Continue to puree. And puree. The longer you puree the hummus the fluffier and more cloud-like it becomes.
To serve, spread hummus in a shallow bowl, dust with paprika and sprinkle with parsley if you like. Drizzle generously with olive oil and serve with the fluffiest pita bread you can find.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days; drizzle with olive oil on the surface before refrigerating to prevent oxidation and drying.
food processor
Tehina (or tahini) is sesame paste, but in this recipe, Zahav's basic tehina is a prepared sauce made from tahini combined with garlic, lemon juice, and water—not raw tahini alone. It's the foundation of the hummus.
This recipe uses canned chickpeas (one 15-ounce can), which is convenient and works well. Dried chickpeas that have been cooked and cooled are also acceptable if you prefer.
The key is the homemade tehina sauce blended until completely smooth, plus proper processing of the chickpeas. A food processor works best to achieve the light, whipped texture. Don't skip blending the tahini sauce separately first.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Drizzle with olive oil before serving to prevent drying. It does not freeze well due to its delicate texture.
Yes. Prepare the basic tehina (garlic, tahini, lemon juice, salt, and water) up to 2 days in advance and store in the refrigerator. Then fold into the processed chickpeas when ready to serve.
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