Msabbaha, Warm Chickpeas in Lemon Tahini
Msabbaha, sometimes written masabacha, is the looser, warmer, chunkier relative of hummus, and in the coastal cities of the Levant it is a breakfast in its own right. The name comes from a word meaning "swimming," a picture of whole chickpeas floating in a pool of tahini sauce. Where hummus blends everything smooth, msabbaha keeps the chickpeas whole and warm, half of them crushed to thicken the bowl, so you taste the bean itself. It is a natural fit for cooking without oil: tahini, whisked with lemon and thinned with the chickpea cooking liquid, builds a rich sauce with no oil poured in, and cumin, garlic, and lemon season it fully without salt. It is distinct from balila, the warm cumin chickpeas that skip the tahini entirely. Eat it warm, scooped up with bread, ideally while the chickpeas are still steaming.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups Chickpeas, cooked warm, no salt added, plus 0.5 cup of their liquid
- 3 tbsp Tahini
- 3 tbsp Lemon juice, fresh
- 2 cloves Garlic, grated to a paste
- 1 tsp Cumin seed, toasted and ground
- 2 tbsp Flat-leaf parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp Aleppo pepper, salt-free, to finish
Method
- Warm the cooked chickpeas gently in their own liquid until they are soft and hot through, then drain, saving half a cup of the liquid. Serving the chickpeas warm and very tender is what sets msabbaha apart from a cold chickpea salad, so cook them a little past firm if they are not there already.
- Whisk the tahini with the lemon juice and grated garlic. It will seize and turn thick and pale at first, which is expected. Whisk in the reserved chickpea liquid a spoonful at a time and it loosens into a smooth, pourable cream. This seizing and loosening is how tahini builds a sauce with no oil at all.
- Add the ground cumin to the sauce. Toasting and grinding the cumin fresh gives it the warm, earthy note that carries the dish in place of salt.
- Set aside about a third of the warm chickpeas and stir the rest into the sauce. Crush some of them lightly against the side of the bowl with the back of a spoon so they thicken the mixture and give it the half-mashed texture the dish is named for.
- Spread it in a shallow bowl, pile the reserved whole chickpeas in the center, and finish with parsley and Aleppo pepper. Serve warm with flatbread. Use salt-free Aleppo, since the flakes are often sold pre-salted, and add a squeeze more lemon rather than salt if it needs sharpening.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 250 calories, 11 g protein, 8 g fiber, 30 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
