Hummus Beiruti Recipe for a Zestier, Herbier, Spicier Hummus – Beragampengetahuan

Our hummus Beiruti recipe makes a zestier, herbier, spicier hummus thanks to more lemon juice, cumin and paprika, and the additions of chilli and fresh parsley. Named after Lebanon’s stunning capital, hummus Beiruti is topped with whole chickpeas, drizzled with spice oil, showered with more fresh parsley and sprinkled with a blend of sweet paprika and chilli powder.

Not all Middle Eastern food lovers realise that there’s a whole big wide world of hummus out there. Scan the menu of any good Arabic restaurant in the Middle East – a Lebanese restaurant, Syrian, Jordanian, Egyptian restaurant, and so on – and there’ll be a long list of hummus dishes under the Cold Mezze section, alongside classics such as muhamarra and baba ganoush.

Along with a classic hummus (hummus bi tahine), a chickpea tahini dip that’s the foundation of any mezze spread, there’s an infinite array of other hummus dishes, from hummus balila, a creamy cumin-driven hummus with salad sides, and hummus balila salad (salata), with salad on top, to hummus with pine nuts and spiced ground meat, typically lamb or beef.

Sometimes the types of hummus are only distinguished by an ingredient or two, such as pine nuts, pistachios, pomegranate seeds, or za’atar, typically added to a bowl of creamy hummus as a topping with extra virgin olive oil and a herb garnish, or something more substantial, such as hummus with chicken shawarma or lamb shawarma.

Other hummus dishes, especially more modern hummus creations, are blended with another ingredient, such as my beetroot hummus, pumpkin hummus and carrot hummus. Cairo restaurant Al Beiruti does a red pepper hummus (and a beetroot muttabal!) while Fayruz offers an avocado hummus I’ve been recreating. One of our favourite Beirut restaurants Al Falamanki has a beetroot tahina and carrot tahina on the menu.

Now let me tell you all about our hummus Beiruti recipe for a zestier, herbier, spicier hummus.

Hummus Beiruti Recipe for a Zestier, Herbier, Spicier Hummus

I have to confess that before we moved to the Middle East, we’d only ever eaten a classic hummus that we’d order as one of an array of mezze at the Lebanese restaurants in Sydney’s Surry Hills we frequented with friends, or the hummus with spiced mince and pine nuts that was one of our favourite weekend brunch dishes at Fez in Darlinghurst.

When we moved to Abu Dhabi, where we had a handful of Arabic restaurants within a short stroll of our apartment on Hamdan Street, the main drag that ran through the centre of Abu Dhabi, we discovered a dozen different types of hummus, maybe more. There was everything from a simple hummus bi-zayt (chickpeas with olive oil) to the sublime hummus wa rummaan (chickpeas and pomegranate).

The long list of hummus dishes on menus was overwhelming. What should we order?! We’re hummus lovers! We wanted to try them all. We certainly had the time! I’d signed up to a three-year contract at a women’s university, though little did we realise back then, we’d end up staying in the UAE for almost eight years and travel the Middle East for even longer as guidebook authors.

But as we soon realised, sometimes there were only one, two or three ingredients that set apart one type of hummus from another, although those ingredients certainly changed the flavour and texture in subtle ways.

Hummus Beiruti was one of those many hummus variations on Lebanese restaurant menus, but it was probably the least subtle – as you’d expect from a hummus named after one of the Middle East’s most vivacious cities, home to some of the region’s most exuberant people!

If you’re a fan of hummus, you’re going to love our recipe for hummus Beiruti, which brims with flavour and texture. This is “next level hummus”, as one Lebanese chef who helmed a hugely popular Lebanese restaurant in Dubai described it to us many years ago.

Everything in this hummus is bumped up – the tanginess, spice levels, fragrance, and texture – making you a zestier, spicier and herbier hummus, thanks to the extra lemon juice, extra ground cumin and paprika, and addition of fresh flat-leaf parsley.

With hummus Beiruti, traditional creamy hummus is topped with chickpeas, drizzled with chilli oil, showered in fresh parsley and sprinkled with sweet paprika. I also add a little chilli powder to the blend. You eat it as you would other cold mezze, as a dip scooped up with Arabic flatbreads, pita bread or crunchy pita chips, as a snack or starter, or as sides to salads such as fattoush and mains such as beef kofta.

Tips to Making this Hummus Beiruti Recipe for a Zestier, Herbier, Spicier Hummus

This ‘next level hummus’ may make a hummus that’s zestier, herbier and spicier thanks to extra lemon juice, ground cumin and paprika, and the addition of fresh parsley and whole chickpeas, drizzled with chilli oil, but it’s not necessarily harder or more time-consuming to make than a classic hummus.

Hummus is a cinch to make, which is why there’s no reason to buy store-bought hummus, which contains preservatives and other odd ingredients. Hummus is especially easy if you make it with canned chickpeas. Drain them, peel them, and throw them in a blender or food processor with tahini, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and extra virgin olive oil. So easy.

Even if you make hummus using the traditional method, which involves soaking the dried chickpeas overnight, it doesn’t involve a lot more preparation, as you’re not doing anything while the chickpeas are soaking.

With our hummus Beiruti recipe, you’re just setting aside some chickpeas for the top of the hummus, and adding extra lemon juice and spices to the food processor or blender.

Then, to a small bowl, you’ll add the 2 tablespoons of whole chickpeas, 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil, teaspoon of ground sweet paprika, and half a teaspoon of chilli powder, and stir to combine well. If you want to go the extra mile, you can heat it all in a fry pan to soften the chickpeas and spoon it onto the top of the hummus while it’s still warm.

After transferring the hummus to a serving bowl, you’ll use a spoon or knife to create swirls that form crevices, drizzle on some of the spiced extra virgin olive oil, spoon the spiced chickpeas on top, then shower with the chopped fresh parsley. If you like, you could sprinkle on a little more ground paprika, or even a little more chilli powder.

Serve with fresh crunchy vegetables such as sticks of carrot and cucumber, crispy homemade pita chips or sourdough crackers for a snack, as one of an array of mezze or starters along with salads such as tabbouleh or an Arabic farmers salad, or as sides to mains such as garlicky shish tawook and kofta kebabs for a proper Middle Eastern feast.

Hummus Beiruti Recipe

Hummus Beiruti Recipe for a Zestier, Herbier, Spicier Hummus

AuthorLara Dunston

Our Hummus Beiruti recipe makes a zestier, herbier, spicier hummus thanks to lemon juice, fresh parsley, and ground cumin and paprika. The classic mezze is topped with whole chickpeas, drizzled with chilli oil, showered in fresh parsley and sprinkled with sweet paprika. Eat it as you would other mezze with Arabic flatbreads, pita or crunchy pita chips.

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course mezze, dip, snack, starter, appetiser

Cuisine Middle Eastern, Arabic, Lebanese

Servings made with recipeServings 1 Bowl

Calories 1684 kcal

• 400 g can of chickpeas
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 100 ml olive oil
• 2 tbsp tahini paste
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp ground sweet paprika
• 2 tsp fresh flat leaf parsley – finely chopped, divided
• 2 tbsp chickpeas
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• ½ tsp chilli powder

• Drain the canned chickpeas, but keep the chickpea brine.

• Remove the skins from the chickpeas and put 2 tablespoons of chickpeas aside for garnishing.

• Transfer the rest of the chickpeas, garlic powder, olive oil, tahini paste, lemon juice, ground cumin, a teaspoon of ground sweet paprika, and a teaspoon of chopped fresh flat leaf parsley to a food processor or blender and process until well-combined. Add a little of the chickpea brine and continue to process until quite smooth, adding a little more brine if needed.

• To a small bowl, add the 2 tablespoons of whole chickpeas, 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil, teaspoon of ground sweet paprika, and half a teaspoon of chilli powder, and stir to combine well.

• Transfer the hummus to a serving bowl and use a knife or teaspoon to swirl around the surface to create a ripple with a small ‘pond’ at the centre of the bowl. Drizzle a little of the spiced extra virgin olive oil into the crevices and spoon the spiced chickpeas into the centre. If you like, shake a little extra ground paprika or even chilli powder on top and shower with the chopped fresh parsley.

• Serve with fresh crunchy vegetables such as sticks of carrot, celery or cucumber, crispy pita chips or sourdough crackers, or as one of an array of mezze as part of a proper Middle Eastern feast.

Calories: 1684kcalCarbohydrates: 124gProtein: 42gFat: 119gSaturated Fat: 16gPolyunsaturated Fat: 22gMonounsaturated Fat: 76gSodium: 67mgPotassium: 1511mgFiber: 34gSugar: 20gVitamin A: 1482IUVitamin C: 19mgCalcium: 290mgIron: 17mg

Please do let us know if you make this hummus Beiruti recipe as we’d love to know how it turns out for you.