The secret of the perfect hummus
'12.01.2018'
Source: BBC Travel
Many people — Syrians, Turks, Greeks and other Middle Eastern nations — can become candidates for the role of inventors of hummus. But, according to BBC Travel, the most important thing is not who and where hummus came up with, but why this dish is so popular all over the world.
Try to figure it out?
The word "hummus" has the most obvious meaning - "chickpea", also known as chickpeas, from which the dish is prepared. Typically, the dish is a smooth or almost uniform puree, flavored with various additives that make the difference between the hummus that you can taste in a particular country. Hummus is prepared with or without tahini pasta, seasoned with pine nuts, minced beef, turkish nuts, green beans, served with falafel, pickles, chips, hot sauces ... you can't name it.
To this day there is no historical evidence of what people first came up with this amazing dish. For example, in the same Turkey chickpeas have been grown for 10 for thousands of years, but other Middle Eastern countries can also make themselves known. Sesame paste (tahini) is mentioned in Arabian culinary records from the XIII century.
Israelis believe that hummus was invented by them, since it is even mentioned in the Bible. Israeli chefs cite books from the Old Testament. Supporters of the "Indian" theory are convinced that for the first time chickpeas began to be grown in India and Nepal. In 2008, the Lebanese blamed the people of Israel for claiming the right to a traditional Lebanese dish in order to make money from advertising and its sales. Moreover, Lebanon even turned to the EU to recognize hummus as the country's cultural heritage - but to no avail.
In 2009, the Minister of Tourism Lebanon He offered the inhabitants of the country to cook hummus of this size than anywhere else in the world - and the dish did succeed, even entered the Guinness Book of Records. But the Israelis did not stand aside - and made hummus weighing tons of 4. Lebanese again responded - 10 thousand kilograms and 452 grams, so much weighed prepared hummus. So far, over the past 7 years, no one has broken this record.
And then it turned out that the ancient recipes for hummus were found even in Egyptiansat least so say the American professors of history. In the culinary books of Cairo, a dish of chickpeas with vinegar, lemon, spices and herbs is mentioned. Other historians say that Egypt borrowed the dish - this time from Syria.
According to the Air Force observer, the most important thing is not who first cooked hummus, but who makes this dish better than the others today - not on an industrial scale, but manually, with the best ingredients, the most important of which becomes ... We bet you can't guess?
Love.
It is this secret ingredient of the chef and simple housewives who call the main thing in preparing the perfect hummus.
Well, in addition to love, you need a couple more ingredients ...
RECIPE
Soak dry chickpeas overnight. Keep in mind - after soaking, the chickpeas approximately double in volume and weight. Boil over very low heat until soft, an hour and a half.
Thina - 150 g
Lemon juice - 25 ml
Garlic - 3 cloves
Sol - 2 tsp.
Olive oil - 1 Art.
Spices to taste:
paprika
Ground black pepper
Ground red pepper
All ingredients, except salt and spices, put in a bowl blender and grind into a smooth paste. Traditionally, hummus is used to add water from under boiling beans. It makes sense to keep it this time too, if citrus juice is not enough to bring humus to a pleasing consistency. Lemon juice is better to use freshly squeezed. Water after them add a teaspoon as needed. Salt and peppers add to the ground mass to taste, they may need more or less.
If you have never tried to use smoked olive oil for hummus, try, here it is very useful.
