Turkish Hummus with Yogurt

By Martha Rose Shulman

Updated June 13, 2023

  • Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Media 1 of 1
Total Time
2 hour 15 minutes
Rating
5(219)
Comments
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This is much like the familiar Middle Eastern chickpea purée, but instead of tahini, the chickpeas are blended with yogurt. It’s lighter than the version made with tahini, and it’s nice either warm or at room temperature. Skinning the chickpeas makes a more delicate, smoother purée, and it doesn’t take as long as you’d think, but I leave the step as an optional one.

Featured in: Yogurt: Much More Than a ‘Health Food’

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Ingredients

Yield:2 cups, serving 8 to 12

  • 6 ounces (1 cup) dried chickpeas, rinsed, picked over and soaked for 4 to 6 hours, or overnight

  • Salt to taste

  • 2 garlic cloves, green shoots removed

  • ½ teaspoon ground cumin

  • 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

  • 3 to 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, to taste

  • ¼ cup thick Greek-style or drained yogurt

FOR THE GARNISH (OPTIONAL)

  • Fresh pomegranate seeds

  • Ground cumin

  • Black olives

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Drain the soaked chickpeas and place in a pot with 1 quart of water. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer 1 hour. Add salt to taste and continue to simmer for another hour, or until chickpeas are thoroughly tender. Remove from the heat. Drain but retain about ½ cup of the cooking liquid. You should have 2 cups cooked chickpeas.

  2. Step 2

    Turn on a food processor fitted with the steel blade and drop in the garlic. When the garlic is chopped and adhering to the sides of the bowl, stop the food processor and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the chickpeas, salt and cumin, and turn on the machine for about 30 seconds. Stop the machine, scrape down the sides, and start the machine again. With the machine running, add the lemon juice, olive oil and yogurt, and blend until smooth. Taste and adjust salt. Thin out as desired with cooking broth from the chickpeas, or with more yogurt. Transfer to a wide bowl, and garnish if desired. Serve with warm pita bread.

Tips

  • If you choose to use canned chickpeas, drain and rinse before proceeding with Step 2. You will need 2 cups.

  • Advance preparation: Cooked chickpeas will keep for three or four days in the refrigerator. The hummus will keep for a couple of days but will become more pungent.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
219 user ratings
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Comments

Meta

Pretty good, different. Used 1 tsp.. ground cumin (otherwise why bother). 1 cup dried beans ended up 3 cups cooked, which is the same as 2 15oz cans.

Maggie

Subbed dark sesame oil for the olive oil--very very good.

TOM G

quick and delicious. I added some kalamata olives on the top and sprinkled with just enough paprika for some color

Nejat salih

Missing Tahini ! You cannot make a Turkish hummus without Tahini ! Im 70 years old and Turkish ! No one in Turkey or Turkish cypriot north cyprus make hummus without Tahini paste ! You just cant achieve the essential nutty taste you need to have without sesame seed paste .

sjszilasi

Worked better with canned chick peas vs dried

BB

Delicious! I didn’t have tahini and wanted to make hummus. This was really yummy, and very creamy. The flavor is only slightly different than traditional hummus. I doubled the recipe and switched out 1 tablespoon of olive oil with roasted garlic olive oil.

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