Preserved lemon hummus

By: Catherine Phipps
From: Citrus
Serves: 4
Photographer: Mowie Kay

I tried all kinds of preserved citrus with this, and lemon definitely works best, although I do also like using lime, with a sprinkling of allspice and cayenne on top, or orange with a sprinkling of dried mountain herbs. If you are using dried chickpeas, which are so much better than using tinned, then you will need to start with about a third of the weight/volume of cooked. They will need an overnight soak, a rinse, and then simmering for 1–2 hours, depending on how old they are.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
500g	cooked chickpeas, the equivalent of 2 x 400g tins, plus 1–2 ladlefuls of the liquid from the tin/cooking liquid
1	lemon, juiced
2	garlic cloves, crushed or grated
4 tablespoons	tahini
	olive oil, for drizzling
1	preserved lemon, skin only, see recipe note, or 2bsp of the quick sort
a sprinkling	sumac or paprika
	sea salt

Method

Put the drained chickpeas in a blender with half the lemon juice, the garlic and the tahini and a little of the reserved liquid. Blitz, pushing down regularly, adding a little more liquid if necessary. Season with salt and taste. Add more garlic and lemon juice if you like, and blitz again. You should end up with a soft consistency, but it should hold its shape at all times.
To serve, transfer to a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Cut the preserved lemon into a fine dice and sprinkle centrally over the hummus. If using the quick preserved lemon, drizzle over a little of the liquor too. Sprinkle with a little sumac, or paprika if you prefer.

Preserved lemons (and other citrus)

This is extremely simple to do – it just requires a certain amount of patience. Simply top and tail the lemons (or limes, or Seville oranges – you need a fairly acidic fruit for this), then cut a deep cross through each one, almost – but not quite – to the base. Stuff each lemon with sea salt (around 2 teaspoons in each), then pack tightly into a sterilized preserving jar. Weigh the fruit down if possible – I find scalded muslin wrapped around traditional weights or a well-scrubbed tin works – then leave for a couple of days. Remove the weights, muddle the lemons a bit with a wooden spoon to try to release more juice (some will already have collected in the base of the jar), then top with freshly squeezed lemon juice until the lemons are completely covered. Seal, then leave to mature for at least 4 weeks. They can then be kept for over a year in the refrigerator once you have opened them.

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