This hummus recipe is slightly modified from the incredibly popular Zahav cookbook by Michael Solomnov. The secret to the extra creamy texture is to slightly overcook the chickpeas. The hummus is best served while it’s still warm.

1 cup dried chickpeas or 2 cans cooked chickpeas
2 tsp baking soda (divided)
Juice of 2 lemons
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup tahini
½ tsp cumin
Olive oil (for serving)
Paprika (for serving)
Clove of garlic (for serving)

The night before you plan on making the hummus place chickpeas in a large bowl with 1 teaspoon of baking soda and cover with at least 2 inches of water. Let the chickpeas soak overnight then drain and rinse. If using canned chickpeas you can skip this step.

Place chickpeas in a medium pot, add the remaining teaspoon of baking soda and enough water to cover the chickpeas by at least 4 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to medium, and allow to simmer for 1 ½ hours. The chickpeas should be overcooked, their shells should begin to come off. Drain chickpeas but do not allow them to fully cool.

While the chickpeas are cooking combine the garlic, lemon, and half of the salt in a blender or food processor. Pour the paste through a fine-mesh strainer, press the paste against the strainer with the back of a spoon to get as much of the liquid out as possible. Discard the solids in the strainer and let the strained liquid sit for 10 minutes.

Pour the strained juice back into the blender. Prepare 1 cup of ice water. Add the remaining salt, cumin, and tahini to the blender and blend on high. If the mixture is too thick to blend add ⅓ cup water to the running blender. A thick paste should form, slowly and gradually add another ⅓ cup of your water to thin out the paste. You want the paste to be very smooth and creamy but not liquid. If you need to add more water do so very gradually.

Add half of the drained chickpeas to the tahini paste. Blend on high, scraping down the sides as needed. Once the chickpeas are fully incorporated add the remaining chickpeas, blend until perfectly smooth, scraping down the sides as you did before. Allow the mixture to blend for a minute before adding more water if necessary. Again, you want the hummus to be very smooth and creamy, bordering on liquid. Once you get the proper consistency taste for seasonings and add more cumin, lemon juice or salt if needed.

To serve the hummus pour it into a shallow bowl, it should be smooth enough to pour out of the blender. Smash a clove of garlic, put it in a small bowl and cover with a couple pinches of paprika and olive oil, allow this mixture to sit for a few minutes then spoon over the center and edges of the hummus.