Dishes · A classic of Levantine

Hummus

Also Hummus bi tahini

Chickpeas cooked very soft and blended with tahini, lemon, garlic and salt until silky.

Hummus

What makes it hummus

  • Chickpeas cooked past soft — often with a pinch of bicarbonate.
  • Generous tahini; lemon and garlic to balance.
  • Served in a swirl with olive oil, often paprika or whole chickpeas.

Where it comes from

Hummus is simply Arabic for chickpea. Purées of chickpeas with sesame and vinegar appear in medieval Cairo cookbooks, but the dish as it's eaten now — with lemon and tahini, spread in a swirl and flooded with olive oil — took shape in the Levant, and whose it is remains a source of fierce pride.

How it varies

Msabbaha
Warm whole chickpeas in a loose tahini sauce.
Hummus with lahm
Topped with spiced minced lamb and pine nuts.

Be the first here

Start your own hummus
No one here has made hummus yet. Start it as v1, and every version after is an experiment the next cook can learn from.

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