About the dish
Hummus is a purée of cooked chickpeas blended with tahini (sesame paste), lemon juice, garlic and salt. Good hummus is very smooth and fluffy, and its flavour depends on the balance of chickpeas and tahini and on how long the chickpeas were cooked. It is spread on the plate in a flat round with a well in the middle for olive oil, then topped with paprika, parsley, whole chickpeas or hot minced meat with pine nuts. It is scooped up with pitta at breakfast, as part of mezze and as a quick meal. It is one of the defining dishes of the whole Levant, found from Lebanon and Syria through Jordan and Palestine to Israel.
Main ingredients
- chickpeas
- tahini
- lemon
- garlic
- olive oil
- cumin
Israel: In Israel חומוס (hummus) is eaten as a full meal in hummus bars, with pitta, whole chickpeas, fava beans or egg.
Lebanon: In Lebanon it is served as part of mezze, often with olive oil and paprika or topped with fried meat and pine nuts (hummus bil lahme).
More: Wikipedia (pl) Wikipedia (en)
