Chicken Schnitzel in Pita with Hummus with homemade hummus

👨‍🍳 Method

For the homemade hummus ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

1. 1
   Soak the chickpeas overnight in plenty of cold water.

   Bowl

   💡Soak in plenty of water, well above what's being soaked: legumes and grains swell and drink water, and whatever sticks out stays hard. Drain well before continuing.
2. 2
   Drain, cover with plenty of unsalted water and cook 1.5–2 hours, skimming off the foam and skins from time to time, until the chickpeas are very soft and crush easily between your fingers.

   ColanderStovePot

   💡Fully cooked chickpeas crush between your fingers with no resistance at all. Chickpeas that stay a little firm make a grainy spread, and no amount of tahini will fix it.
3. 3
   Drain, reserving a cup of the cooking liquid.

   Colander
4. 4
   Mix the tahini, lemon juice and garlic and season with salt.
5. 5
   Transfer the tahini sauce to a food processor, add the chickpeas, still warm, and process 3–5 minutes, until it is completely smooth.

   Food processor

   💡Grind the chickpeas while they are still warm: warm chickpeas grind into a smoother cream than cold ones.
6. 6
   Gradually add the water, until the hummus is creamy and airy, and a little thinner than the texture you want: it thickens as it stands.

   💡Ice water, not ordinary water, gives hummus an airy, pale texture: the tahini emulsifies with it like mayonnaise.

For the Crispy Coating

1. 7
   Spread the flour on a flat plate and mix in the paprika, salt and black pepper.

   💡The flour dries the surface, the egg sticks to it and holds whatever comes next. Without the flour, the coating tends to peel off during frying.
2. 8
   Beat the eggs in a wide bowl.

   Bowl

   💡Work with one "dry" hand for the dry coating and one "wet" hand for the egg, so your fingers don't get caked in layers of coating.
3. 9
   Spread the crumbs on another flat plate.

To assemble

1. 10
   Place the cutlets between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet to an even thickness of 1 cm.

   Meat malletPlastic wrap

   💡Even thickness is the secret: a cutlet that's thick on one side and thin on the other comes out dry at the edge and raw in the middle.

   💡Pound gently from the center outward: the goal is even thickness, not the thinnest possible cut, and torn meat dries out as it cooks.
2. 11
   Pass each cutlet through the breading stations in order, pressing well so the coating sticks.
3. 12
   Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat and fry 3–4 minutes on each side, until the coating is golden and crisp.

   StoveFrying pan

   💡What you brown (meat, patties, schnitzel) goes into hot oil: in lukewarm oil it soaks it up and comes out greasy. For onion and garlic that you soften, oil heated over medium or low heat is enough; do not wait for it to smoke.
4. 13
   Transfer to paper towels.
5. 14
   Halve each pita, spread the chickpeas inside and fill with sliced schnitzel and the tomato slices and cabbage.

   Knife