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