Key Highlights :
For Brady Weinstein, hummus is more than just a dip - it's a way of life. As a musician-turned-hummus devotee, Weinstein is on a mission to change how we eat hummus, and it starts with a guttural HOOM-us.
At his semi-weekly popup, Weinstein will school you on eating hummus warm, as a meal and with a spoon. "Most likely, unless you’ve been to the Middle East, you haven’t had hummus like this," he says. "It’s not the hippie granola hummus you find at your farmers’ market. I’m trying to make it like you’re blindfolded and eating it where it comes from. I always tell people, ‘You’ve just gotta try it, man.’”
Weinstein is well aware of the absurdity of being a white American Jew from Houston, Texas, trying to make the type of hummus you’d eat in the Middle East. But it was a trip to Israel that changed his perspective - and his hummus-making game. “It just blew my mind,” he said. “It’s so beyond night and day. I came back and couldn’t find it anywhere, so I started teaching myself how to make it.”
In the summer of 2020, Weinstein was furloughed from his nanny gig and took his stimulus check to Aurora’s to stock up on garbanzo beans, tahini and Middle Eastern pickles. He soaked chickpeas, slow stewed fava beans and pureed to perfection, and Hummus Capara was born. He chose the word Capara, a Hebrew term of endearment, as a sort of signal to people from, or very familiar with, the Middle East.
Weinstein's hummus is modeled after the style he ate in Israel, and it is beautiful. It's a hefty vat of the creamy stuff topped with whole, nutty chickpeas, parsley leaves, paprika, sumac and olive oil. It is definitely best served warm, scooped onto the accompanying pita Weinstein sources from Shahrazad Bakery.
But what is the key to making real Middle Eastern-style hummus? According to Weinstein, it's all in the quality of the tahini and the treatment of the chickpeas. The latter must be soaked and coddled to coax out their nutty flavors. Whatever pampering, massage or fondling he’s doing to them, the result is silky and rich, like eating a Sade song.
Weinstein may be a little eccentric in his hummus fanaticism, but if that eccentricity gets you to put down that cold, grocery store hummus tub, he’s fulfilled his mission. So if you're looking to make authentic Middle Eastern-style hummus, follow Brady Weinstein's lead and get ready to experience the magic.