Tel Aviv taverns, cozy eateries, Where they serve Hummus and pita bread both during the day and at evening; Where hot cakes burn tongues, where from a spoon to a bomb the distances are close...
Bulat Okudzhava

Hummus is a dish that came to us from the East and has become a favorite for many. But in Israel, hummus is not treated simply as one of the dishes of the national cuisine. Surprising facts show that hummus is more than food for Jews. Thus, Israel annually imports more than 5,000 tons of chickpeas, the main ingredient for making hummus. Food industry magnates are increasing their income year after year by preparing and selling hummus and developing new recipes.

But Jewish hummus tastes best in special small establishments - hummus shops, where each owner carefully preserves his own unique recipe and puts his whole soul into preparing hummus.

Jewish hummus recipe

The recipe for making Jewish hummus is simple. It is only important to find all the necessary ingredients, but their quantity is quite approximate and is determined by the taste preferences of the cook.

Products for Jewish hummus: 300g chickpeas - chickpeas, 70-100g sesame seeds, 0.5 teaspoon cumin, 6-7 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice pepper, garlic, salt, coriander, olive oil, pine nuts, herbs - to taste.

How to make Jewish hummus:

The chickpeas need to be sorted, washed well and soaked overnight. Drain the water from the swollen chickpeas and peel them (then the hummus will be completely homogeneous). Pour the soaked chickpeas with fresh water and cook for 2 - 2.5 hours until soft, until the peas begin to be easily crushed with your fingers.

Sometimes during cooking, soda is added to shorten the cooking time. Chickpeas do cook faster, but they acquire an off-flavor, and the nutrients contained in the peas are destroyed by soda. When chickpeas are cooked until soft, drain the water and, if you cooked the peas without soda, save the broth.

Now you need to start preparing the spices. Pour the cumin into a dry frying pan and heat it for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly. Then grind the cumin to a powder in a coffee grinder. Carry out the same operations with sesame seeds: first fry the sesame seeds in a frying pan until golden brown, then cool and grind in a coffee grinder.

Now you need to add cumin powder, garlic, a little salt, olive oil to the sesame powder and beat the mixture with a blender.

Add chickpeas to the finished mixture (setting aside some of the boiled peas) and beat with a blender until smooth.

If the mixture is thick, add the broth drained from the chickpeas after cooking. Taste the finished mixture and add salt, lemon juice, etc. to your taste.

Place the finished hummus on a dish and garnish with boiled chickpeas, pine nuts and herbs. Jewish hummus can be served either hot or chilled. Be sure to serve your hummus with fresh pita bread or pita bread.

Bon appetit!

Hummus, the recipe of which may vary depending on the base used and accompanying components, has an original taste, amazing aroma and incomparable piquancy. The appetizer will become indispensable for the Lenten menu, and the everyday table with such a dish will sparkle with new colors.

Hummus - a classic recipe

The classic chickpea paste - hummus, the recipe for which is outlined below, is one of the few that contains a complete list of ingredients used to create the snack since ancient times by the best chefs of the Far East. Other recipe variations require a different list of ingredients, up to a change in the main product, which determines not only the taste and aroma of the food, but also its texture.

Chickpea hummus recipe

Traditional hummus, the homemade recipe for which is complicated by the long preparation and cooking of the necessary chickpeas, can also be made from a product canned in its own juice. You can buy one at any large supermarket. Before use, peas should be peeled from the light outer film. To do this, peas placed in a deep bowl of warm water are lightly rubbed between the palms. The unnecessary husk will float to the surface.

Ingredients:

• boiled chickpeas – 360 g;
• sesame paste (tahini) – 95 g;
• lemon juice – 15 ml;
• garlic cloves – 1-2 pcs.;
• olive oil – 75 ml;
• mint (leaves) – 5 pcs.;
• vegetable broth – 195-220 ml;
• paprika, pepper, cumin, salt - a pinch each.

Preparation

1. Initially, grind the peas with half a portion of vegetable broth in a blender with the addition of peeled garlic, mint leaves and all the spices.
2. Add olive oil (half a serving), sesame paste, lemon juice and broth in the amount necessary to achieve the desired texture.
3. Before serving, place classic hummus in a bowl, pour over the remaining oil and sprinkle with ground paprika and red pepper.

Beetroot hummus

First of all, beetroot hummus amazes with its incredible bright color. This type of snack does not lag behind the original in taste. On the contrary, the composition is so harmonious that even those who do not consume the original products separately after tasting this dish remain pleasantly confused by the pleasure received. Preparing this delicacy is almost as simple and quick as the previous one, especially if you take ready-made chickpeas.

Ingredients:

• beets – 520 g;
• chickpeas – 190 g;
• sesame paste – 85 g;
• lemon juice - to taste;
• garlic cloves – 2-3 pcs.;
• olive oil – 35 ml;
• paprika, coriander, chili, thyme, salt.

Preparation

1. The beets are boiled or baked until tender and peeled.
2. Boil soaked chickpeas until soft or simply purchase the required amount of ready-made product canned in its juice.
3. Grind the chickpeas and beets with garlic in a blender, adding water if necessary.
4. Combine two types of puree, add lemon juice, oil, sesame paste, all seasonings and beat everything again.

Pea hummus

Traditionally, this delicious oriental appetizer is made from Turkish chickpeas, but even if you replace it with regular cereal, the dish will still be aromatic, piquant and rich. Pea hummus, the recipe for which can be implemented by reading the recommendations below, has a lower cost, since the main product in this case is cheaper than chickpeas, but retains the main palette of flavors. Only the strictest gourmets will notice the substitution.

Ingredients:

• split peas – 210 g;
• tahini paste – 95 g;
• rosemary – 2 pinches;
• lemon juice - to taste;
• garlic cloves – 2-3 pcs.;
• olive oil – 25 ml;
• paprika, chili, turmeric, salt.

Preparation

1. The peas are pre-soaked, washed thoroughly and boiled until soft.
2. Beat the boiled mass together with peeled garlic, lemon juice and all the spices until smooth.
3. Add sesame paste and mix the mixture again until smooth.
4. Before serving, pour oil over the appetizer in a bowl and sprinkle with a mixture of paprika and ground chili.

Bean hummus - recipe

If you're already tired of chickpea hummus, a homemade bean-based snack recipe will allow you to update your menu and add new colors of tastes and aromas to it. Beans, like peas, can be taken canned in their own juice in a jar or soaked in advance and boiled until soft, adding salt at the end. In this case, a sprig of fresh rosemary perfectly complements the taste of legumes, but if you don’t like the taste of this spice, you can do without it.

Ingredients:

• beans – 210 g;
• tahini – 95 g;
• rosemary – 2 pinches;
• lemon juice – 15-25 ml;
• garlic cloves – 2 pcs.;
• olive oil – 25 ml;
• paprika, hot pepper, sugar, salt.

Preparation

1. White beans are soaked in water for a couple of hours, boiled and blended into a paste in a blender along with garlic.
2. Add sesame puree, rosemary and other ingredients to taste and beat the mass again.

Chickpea flour hummus

If you don’t have time to prepare chickpeas for a long time or simply don’t have a blender in your kitchen arsenal to grind them into a paste, you can make quick hummus from chickpea flour, the recipe for which is presented below. In this case, it is worth considering that the flour is made from a raw product and will need to be boiled with a certain amount of water until the desired texture is achieved.

Ingredients:

• chickpea flour – 155 g;
• tahini – 70 g;
• water – 490-560 ml;
• lemon – 85 g;
• garlic clove – 1 pc.;
• olive oil – 15 ml;
• ground paprika – 10 g;
• salt.

Preparation

1. The flour is mixed with two incomplete glasses of purified water, the lumps are ground and the mixture is heated with continuous stirring until it thickens, adding a little more water if necessary.
2. Transfer the brewed mass to a blender, add a clove of garlic, lemon juice, sesame paste, paprika and salt and beat the mass until smooth.
3. If you don’t have a blender, you can simply add grated garlic with spices and mix with a mixer.
4. Finally, add the oil and mix.

What do you eat hummus with?

After reading the recipes, you learned how to make hummus. However, it is also important to serve it correctly, complement it with appropriate accompaniment in order to maximize and highlight the taste of the dish.

1. The Jewish national dish hummus is in perfect harmony with bread and...
2. It is very tasty to eat the delicious pasta with chips, crackers, toast or any unsweetened cookies.
3. By complementing the appetizer in the form of slices, you can enjoy the amazing taste of the dish and not cause harm to your figure.

To tell the truth, a person who has at least once visited the Levant (Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon) and tried this achievement of local cuisine will also go nowhere without hummus. You miss it, you sing its praises, you start preparing it with your own hands literally just after returning from the airport. Fortunately, all the products for its preparation are also inexpensive in our latitudes.

Hummus is a common Middle Eastern cold appetizer made from chickpeas and tahini (sesame paste). Often quite spicy. Always - a very delicate, uniform consistency, slightly oily. What distinguishes it from ordinary chickpea puree is precisely this very tahini (more about it below) and a special set of spices (more about them a little later).

Chickpeas are traditionally served with pita bread. Gastronomic traditionalists will even tell you that The only way to scoop up real homemade hummus is a bread “spoon” of pita bread. You tear off a piece, roll it up with a spoon, and scoop it up. However, it will also go great with pita bread, fresh bread or corn crackers. The worst thing is that it will also work without bread. With a spoon. Unstoppable.

In our area, hummus is still considered exotic. And in any Israeli home (no matter Jewish or Arab) it is just as likely to be found in the refrigerator as in ours - a piece of sausage, cheese or butter. And, of course, as happens with all such common dishes, each housewife makes homemade hummus a little differently.

Basic principles

There are six main ingredients in hummus: chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, black pepper. For some reason, many Russian-speaking recipe writers do not consider olive oil an indispensable ingredient. This is wrong: if you don't add oil, you'll have to double or triple the amount of tahini to achieve the desired consistency, and the dish risks becoming simply inedible.

In principle, an acceptable option is to leave some of the water in which the chickpeas were cooked, then you will actually be able to make the hummus quite tender. But - rather watery than oily.

So we, following the Israeli and Palestinian housewives, recommend not to discount olive oil, and pour it quite generously, without sparing it: a good half a glass for half a pan of hummus.

Not canonical, but repeatedly tested in practice, we would recommend adding a small piece of butter as soon as you remove the chickpeas from the heat and add salt. The texture of the puree will become softer and more delicate.

Important clarification: you need to make hummus from still hot chickpeas. Then the oils will mix better with the puree, the seasonings will be better revealed, and the structure will be more uniform.

Many people recommend peeling the skins from already cooked chickpeas. In principle, you don’t have to do this if you boil the chickpeas very well (until the peas begin to fall apart), and then grind everything thoroughly with a blender.

But let's get back to the ingredients. Firstly, probably not all Russian housewives know what “tahina” is (aka tahini, aka tahini or sesame paste). Tahini is a thick, oily paste made from ground sesame seeds. It is used mainly for making hummus and falafel, and is also included in some sauces. The simplest one, popular throughout the Levant, is tahini + lemon juice + garlic + black pepper + paprika + a little cold water. You can also add cumin, chili pepper, parsley. And eat it with pita bread or fried/baked meat.

There is no hummus without tahini. Basically, if you make chickpea puree without it, it's all It will still be amazingly tasty, but not hummus.

By the way, try experimenting and adding tahini to our more traditional bean puree. Not much, literally one tablespoon for 4-5 servings. The taste will not change radically (and we don’t need that), but it will become more interesting and expressive.

It may well happen that you won’t find tahini in stores you know. And if there are no Arab stalls nearby, and no one you know is going to the Eastern Mediterranean in the near future, you will have to try to make it yourself. You won’t get completely real tahini at home, but it’s better than nothing at all. Fry sesame seeds (about a glass) and a little cumin in a dry frying pan. Grind well in a mortar with olive or sesame oil (the second, of course, is preferable).

Lemon juice is also an indispensable condition. Half a pan of hummus will take at least a whole lemon, or even one and a half to two. However, this is a matter of taste.

Next are the spices. At the very least, black pepper. But any Israeli housewife here will only sniffle: it’s boring! After all, there is also cumin (aka cumin), savory (not to be confused with thyme), ground dried ginger, ground chili pepper, coriander, paprika!.. And who’s stopping you from putting a little cumin in there, for example? Or a couple of teaspoons of whole sesame seeds? Or even take za’atar, a popular spice mixture in Israel. It is based on zaatar itself (one of the types of oregano, close to marjoram or hyssop), sesame and thyme. It comes with sumac, barberry, coriander... It goes perfectly with any legumes (lentil soup, pea porridge), so it has a perfect place in hummus.

Spices in grains (coriander, cumin, cumin, sesame...) are best first lightly heated in a dry frying pan. And then grind in a mortar or grind in a coffee grinder. Dry herbs (oregano, marjoram, savory...) can also be heated a little, but only a little, so that the unnecessary smell of burnt grass does not appear.

By the way, fresh herbs will also work: parsley, dill; not canonical, but interesting - cilantro. Just grind it a little and very well.

With “accessories”, that’s all, actually. But we forgot about the basics.

Chickpeas are a tricky thing. Depending on how much water is chlorinated in your city, what type of peas you got, what time of year it is, or simply what mood the chickpea god is in today, it will cook from two to six to eight hours. In clean water - longer, in tap water - a little faster. Soaking overnight is almost mandatory. Many people recommend adding a couple of teaspoons of soda to the cooking water to soften it. We ourselves do not use this method out of a strange superstition, but we share the information. You need to pour a lot of water, two to three times more than peas, otherwise it will boil away - in about six hours!

How much chickpeas should I take? To “try” one glass is enough for you; the chickpeas will boil quite strongly. And once it goes, you’ll figure out the quantity yourself.

Actually, you will have to “figure it out yourself” with absolutely all the quantities. Proposing proportions is pointless. Different varieties of chickpeas, different acidity of lemons, different freshness of spices... Plus personal preferences. Some people like a lot of garlic, while others cannot tolerate it at all.

For the same reasons, it is impossible to guess in advance with the amount of oil. Sometimes literally a third of a glass is enough for a soft, tender puree, and sometimes chickpeas absorb a lot of it, and the puree continues to remain thick even after a good two hundred grams.

But overall it looks something like this:

Ingredients.
Required:
chickpeas (a couple of glasses)
tahini (2-4 tbsp.)
lemon juice (0.5-1.5 lemons)
garlic (1-5 cloves)
olive oil (80-200 g)
ground black pepper

Variable:
butter
savory
ground dried ginger
ground red pepper
cumin (cumin)
coriander
marjoram, za'atar, hyssop
sesame
paprika
caraway

Additive options:
parsley dill
pine or pine nuts
fried mushrooms
whole cooked chickpea grains
grated cheese
thin slices of cucumber
finely chopped sweet red pepper

Preparation:
1. Wash the chickpeas and soak in warm water overnight.
By the way, if the room is hot, by the morning the chickpeas may begin to smell slightly sour, and a white foam will appear on the water. Don't be afraid, just rinse the peas well under running water.

2. Boil the chickpeas until tender (until the peas break easily and the skin comes off). Add salt at the very end.

3. Prepare spices: heat, grind.

4. Drain the water (or let it boil down). You can leave a little in the pan.

5. Add chopped garlic, butter, spices. Grind with a blender.

6. Add lemon juice, tahini, olive oil. Grind again. Grind until pureed until there are no whole peas or lumps left.

7. If desired, add finely chopped herbs and blend well again.

To the table!

Traditionally, hummus is a cold snack, but believe me, it is also divinely delicious when hot.

In Levantine countries, hummus is usually served like this: put it on a flat plate, spreading it in a thick layer with a small depression in the center. Sprinkle with paprika, sometimes sumac, and herbs. Sometimes a little olive oil is poured into the cavity, a handful of unground boiled chickpeas and/or other additives are added.

Place pita (ideally warm), chopped cheese, vegetables, and herbs on adjacent plates.

A curious version of hummus - laban-ma-hummus - is made in Palestine and Jordan: in it, tahini is replaced with natural yogurt (often goat's), and olive oil with butter.

Another version is called the funny word “masabcha” (or “mashavsha”) and consists of whole boiled chickpeas in a warm sauce of diluted hummus with tahini, olive oil and chopped garlic.

The main difference between masabcha is the whole grains, which are cooked even longer than for hummus, and become even more tender and soft.

In our deep conviction, hummus is an almost perfect dish, and in every way case - self-sufficient. But the idea of ​​making balls out of it and frying it in vegetable oil is so old and so popular that it’s impossible not to mention it.
These balls are called “falafel” and occupy a dominant place in the street fast food of the Middle East. Yes, in general, let’s be honest: in Europe and America there are already, in general, almost as many falafel stalls as there are hot dog stalls. Nothing strange, given the spread of vegetarianism.

Making falafel at home, on the one hand, is strange and pointless - this is, after all, street food, but on the other hand, well, why not.

At the same time, we can experiment with canned rather than raw chickpeas.

Ingredients:
1 can (340 g) canned chickpeas
small red onion
3/4 tbsp. chopped spicy herbs (mint, cilantro, parsley)
1 tsp. ground cumin
a pinch of salt
ground black pepper
3/4 tbsp. breadcrumbs
100 g goat cheese
flour for breading

Preparation:
Drain the chickpeas. Blend chickpeas, onions, spices and herbs.
Add chopped soft goat cheese and ground breadcrumbs and blend again with a blender.
Place the resulting mass in a bowl, cover with film and place in the refrigerator for about an hour.
Form the chickpea mixture into small balls. You can flatten them a little to make “cutlets” - this will make it easier to fry. Roll the balls (cutlets) in flour.

Pour refined vegetable oil (2 centimeters) into a deep frying pan with a thick bottom, heat and fry the falafel in it until golden brown. Place on a paper towel to drain excess fat.

Serve immediately, with a side of fresh vegetables, lettuce, tzhin sauce, pita bread and lemon wedges.

And please don't eat falafel cold.

Don't like fried food? That's right. Better stuff eggs with hummus. Both tasty and healthy.

Ingredients:
6 boiled eggs
2 tbsp. l. hummus
1 tbsp. l natural yogurt
½ tsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. l. ready-made adjika (sauce, not dry spice)
a pinch of salt and hot red pepper

Preparation:
Cut the peeled eggs into halves. Remove the yolks, mash with a fork, mix with hummus, adjika, cumin and yogurt. Fill the egg whites with this mixture.

Place the eggs on a plate, sprinkle them with toasted pine nuts and crushed red pepper. Or - pepper and finely chopped parsley.

Olive oil, garlic and lemon.

Hummus has been known since ancient times and is very popular in such Middle Eastern countries as Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, etc. We can say that both Jews and Arabs are equally interested in hummus.

The benefits of hummus can be judged by the composition of its ingredients. Turkish peas (chickpeas), sesame seeds (tahini), olive oil, garlic and lemon are a whole storehouse of vitamins and microelements. And at the same time, such a product rich in useful substances is also not very high in calories, 100 grams contain about 166 kcal.

HUMMUS WHAT DOES IT EAT WITH?

Israelis eat hummus for breakfast, lunch and dinner with pita bread, bread, chips, crackers, etc. This light and at the same time nutritious snack goes well with vegetable, meat and mushroom dishes. No meal in Israel can be imagined without hummus.

In recent years, hummus has become increasingly popular in Europe and the USA, and especially among vegetarians. Unfortunately, few people in Russia know about hummus, but in vain, because this product, rich in vegetable proteins, is simply ideal for consumption during Lent.

Moreover, in recent years, on the shelves of Russian supermarkets it is quite possible to purchase all the ingredients necessary for its preparation, the main ones being chickpeas (chickpeas) and sesame paste.

Making hummus at home is not difficult if you follow some subtleties, which I will be happy to share.

HUMMUS RECIPE AT HOME

♦ Chickpeas (chickpeas) – 350 gr.
♦ Olive oil – 4 tbsp.
♦ Tahini (sesame paste) – 3 tbsp.
♦ Lemon – 1/2 pcs.
♦ Garlic – 3 cloves
♦ Salt – 2/3 tsp.
♦ Spices - to taste.

1. Soak chickpeas in 1 liter of cold water for 10 - 12 hours, or better yet overnight. To ensure that the chickpeas are well boiled and the shell is easily separated from the grains during cooking, add 1 tsp to the soaking water. baking soda.

2. After soaking, the water must be drained, and the chickpea grains, which have already swollen quite well during this time, should be rinsed and filled with clean cold water. Enough water is needed to completely cover the grains.

3. Bring the water to a boil, removing the resulting foam. After boiling, reduce the heat, add salt and continue cooking without covering the lid for about 40 minutes. Stirring constantly and, if necessary, pouring cold water into the pan in small portions. There should not be too much water, but it should completely cover the chickpeas.

4. During the cooking process of chickpeas, the shell begins to separate from the grains, which must be constantly removed. In this case, the hummus will have a delicate consistency.

5. Chickpeas are ready when the grains become soft and crumble easily when pressed. In this case, remove the pan from the heat, drain the liquid (decoction) in which the chickpeas were cooked, but do not pour it out, it will still be useful.

6. Grind the boiled chickpea grains using a blender until smooth and puree.

7. Add tahini (sesame paste), olive oil, lemon juice and pressed garlic to the chickpea puree. Place everything using a blender. If the resulting mass is quite thick, then you need to add the broth in which the chickpeas were cooked.

8. If desired, you can add spices to hummus (parsley, coriander, paprika, black pepper, chili pepper, ground cumin (cumin), etc.)

9. Place the finished hummus in jars, cool, pour a small amount of olive oil on top and close the lids. Keep refrigerated.