The 3 basic variations of hummus
In future posts I’ll present other variations of hummus. This time, lets talk about the basic threesome.
There are lots of variations to the basic hummus with various additions, such as hummus with mashrooms, ground meat, chicken liver and so on. But this time we’ll stick to the basic threesome (photos will be added sometime soon):
Hummus. the basic dish is traditionally served with some chopped parsley and olive oil, sometimes with some cooked chickpeas and tahini on top. By the way, “Hummus” is the Arab name for chickpeas, and the full and correct name of the dish is “Hummus bi’Thina” (hummus with tahini).
Hummus Ful. hummus with cooked broad beans (“ful”). The broad beans, of the small and brown variety, known as Ful Masri (Egyptian broad beans) are soaked and cooked like the chickpeas, and have a doughy texture. It’s usually mixed with cumin, lemon juice and salt.
Mesabha. though being made of the same ingredients as hummus, the mesabha (or mesabeha) is very different in texture. The chickpeas are not ground but rather mixed with the tahini, olive oil, garlic etc.
And there’s also theā¦
Meshuleshet (“triplet” in Hebrew). a mix of hummus, ful and masabha, on the same plate. As far as I can tell, this is not a traditional course but more like a commercialized combination, invented for new customers who want to taste everything at once.
I love hummus, The other night I went to Manila Mandarin hotel and they had a dish named “mezze” it had tatziki, hummus, pita bread and kalamta olives. When I ordered for it they informed me that it was out of order, To my dissmay I asked is this a 5 star Hotel havin an 86 item for a simple dish lke this. The F & B manager asked me to wait, which I obliged patiently for 40 minutes. and the it was served. I was so anxious to grab a bite right away worst was when naped my pita bread I roght away realized that the Hummus was not the Hummus traditinally made . It did not have the exciting aroma of cummin and the tahini worst it was blund. My goodness that was the worst Hummus I ever had. I was kinda hungry so I forced myself to eat the stuff but couldnt really finish it was horrible. I hope they do more resarch to really make good on dishes like this