Medieval Hummus Recipe (2024)

I prefer passing the cooked garbanzos through a food mill. It involves more work than a food processor, but it strains out the seed coating and produces a creamier puree.

I make hummus without tahini. Into the food processor: rinsed canned chick peas, olive oil, fresh lemon juice, garlic cloves to taste, salt to taste. I add bits of water to loosen it up or add a roasted red pepper. For heat, sometimes I add a pinch of cayenne. To serve, I will spread on a plate, top with minced tomatoes, cucumbers, red peppers, chopped roasted pistachios, minced parsley and mint, then drizzle with olive oil. I think hummus takes a fair amount of salt to be tasty.

Some types of sumac (there are many) have white berries that can produce a painful, itchy skin rash similar to poison ivy. They are not eaten. The kind sold as a ground spice is from one of the red-berried varieties and is widely consumed in middle eastern dishes.

Please note that some people are violently allergic to sumac. Its presence should always be disclosed.

Didn't have hazelnuts so I used roasted, salted almonds. Eliminated roasting and removing skins, though hazelnuts would add character. I tripled the lemon juice and sumac; doubled the rice vinegar, and used more salt to punch up the flavor. Use GROUND coriander! Since the recipe didn't specify, I used whole seeds. Bad mistake. They didn't break down in the food processor. Nobody wants to chew and swallow the hard, dry pieces. So it's like eating watermelon and spitting out the seeds.

in traditional hummus, oil is NEVER blended with the chickpeas (only swirled on top). just add additional ice water, if needed.

Sumac is the dark red spice sprinkled on middle eastern foods, salads, etc. You can get it on line or your local Penzey's https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-is-sumac-1763131

It's also one of the main ingredients in the spice mix zaatar (or za'atar if you prefer), which as someone else has already pointed out would make a good substitute. You can get both at the sources the other replies have already mentioned.

Years ago, when my brief fling with a Greek Revival house in Walpole, New Hampshire had come to an end, I went over to a neighbor's garden. The owner had the same name as a tragic heroine in a Brian Moore novel; she, too, was private and reticent. I said I had a stash of old, well-rotted hummus I wanted to give her; bemused, she followed me to my compost pile and gently corrected me on the pronunciation of humus. If she's still alive, I hope she enjoys this ancient recipe as much as I did.

Zaatar would work as well as sumac. I prefer it

The original blog post uses walnuts.

Rubbing the skins off hazelnuts is a pain and not worth it for 1/3 cup. Buy the roasted, skinned version.

Most hummus is a little grainy, which betrays the lack of time in the food processor. To get the creaminess that transforms hummus from good to great, blitz for at least five minutes.

Can you provide some evidence or medical research on this? I was totally unaware and after looking online quickly I couldn't see anything to validate allergies that are specifically linked to Sumac.

Sumac is very common in Lebanese cuisine. It is often used as a garnish with good olive oil on top of hummus, too.

Great taste, it's my favourite Hummus

This was nutty, creamy and full of good flavors. I would add actual lemon juice as well as the preserved lemon and maybe a bit more sumac than the recipe calls for. This is one of the best hummus (hummusi?) I’ve ever had.

This is utterly delicious as is. I did add another Tbs of lemon juice and another pinch of salt at the end. Hazelnuts, caraway seeds, coriander seeds, tarragon—genius flavor combo.

I made this last night. It’s so creamy(texture) and tasty! Next time, I think, I’ll add the toasted spices when I pulse the nuts. I made a Hummus bowl with it & added the Farro Pilaf with Balsamic Cherries & the Sheet Pan Gochujiang Shrimp & Green Beans…had Asparagus & used that instead. All so good!

I do not have a food processor or blender. Any ideas on how I might make this? (I imagine they didn’t have such things in 13th Century Iraq so… there’s got to be a way :)

This is similar to regular hummus, yet the spice profile is so unique. Really delicious. The only unroasted pistachios I could find we shelled, and I have no time for shelling nuts on a weeknight, so I subbed roasted and salted pistachios. It worked fine by just adding a little less salt.If you have a blender, use it. It makes hummus so much better, even if it is a bit of a pain to scrape out the hummus. Using a Vitamix has transformed my relationship with home-made hummus (in a good way).

I used more mint and tarragon. Yumm.

If you make this dish, please tell people it has nuts in it, in case they have a severe nut allergy. Hummus is considered a safe dish to most people with nut allergies, and they might just dive in without thinking to ask about nuts. This could be very serious and dangerous.

Sounds delicious. But I'm afraid hummus is what I go to for a fast cooked meal. I also have been eating whole wheat pita now for so long that I can't imagine eating white flour pita anymore.

I had a full tub of Costco plain hummus. I added all the ingredients to that and elevated it into savory, sublime deliciousness! I doubled the lemon juice, simply because the lemon produced that much juice.

Also, I substituted tamarind paste for the sumac, as I wasn't able to readily find sumac. I will order some. Even the tamarind paste was not easy to find. That was three grocery stores, and then finally a visit to a Mexican grocery store to find that.

I once heard on the Food Network (when that outlet actually had cooking instruction) that tarragon is the herb that dries the best and is closest to fresh. Of course, with concentrated dried you'd use a tad less. So I will just buy a jar of tarragon dried, and save some for next time.

Followed the recipe, using canned chickpeas. The spice mixture as listed, with its emphasis on caraway seeds, which I ground with a mortar and pestle after toasting, delivers a "rye bread in dip form" flavor. Should have heeded the more critical reviews. Next time I will try a less medieval spice mixture (perhaps following Nasrallah's blog more closely) along with the preserved lemon.

So hard for me to follow a recipe exactly but I did my best. Was sceptical about the caraway but it was fab! Used a combo of lemon and preserved lemon. Next time more preserved lemon. I did want a touch of sweetness. Just a touch. So added a trace amount of pomegranate molasses. Just delicious. Inspiring. Great on radishes.

I really enjoyed this unusual hummus. I used pecans and pistachio, and bumped the coriander, all of which resulted in a sweet undertone. The unground spices were gritty at first, but softened over time (absorbed water, perhaps?). Tarragon was a surprise and delicious ingredient. I used way more of it than the recipe called for to showcase it. Will make this again.