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Life's Lesson N°9: Hu Hu Hummus and Sisterly Love


I decided today that anyone who doesn’t like to eat hummus is a racist. Yeah, there, I said it. Even though I am from a family that is rather food savvy, eating hummus was considered “just going too far.” Whenever I tell my husband that I would like hummus for a snack, he looks at me like I’ve agreed to become an Al Qaeda bride. What is it about hummus that scares everyone? It’s just a vegetable! How is it possible that someone can consider escargot a delicacy which is basically snot in a shell and then look at hummus (which is a darling little chickpea) like it is the gateway vegetable to terrorism.

While doing a little research on hummus because I’m such a scholar, I learned that there is such a thing called The Hummus Wars. As in life there are wars over religion, property and yes, wars over chickpeas. If you are interested, there is an interesting article on The Hummus Wars. Click HERE.

According to Bodrum.com, the origins of hummus are ancient… “You need only look at how old the ingredients are to see that Hummus bi tahini has an unwritten history that we may never fully understand. The ingredients have been in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East for thousands of years. The last major ingredient to arrive in the Middle East was lemons in 700 CE, but the primary two, chickpeas and tahini, extend back to the beginnings of civilization. From archaeological digs, we know people have eaten chickpeas in the Middle East longer than there has been pottery, or approximately 10,000 years. That predates writing too. The tahini part of hummus, made from sesame seeds, has also been in the Middle East since ancient times. Sesame seeds were used to make sesame oil in food in Mesopotamia since 2500 BCE, so tahini is likely to be about that old. Nor was garlic preventing the creation of a food similar to modern Hummus, as it is as old as the ancient Egyptian pyramids of Giza.”

Okay, now can we all just relax about hummus? It’s been around since before pottery for God’s sake. Are you afraid of pottery, as well? And when I say “you“, I am mostly referring to my own family.

While there are four simple ingredients to hummus (chickpeas, tahini, lemon and garlic) there are still some tricks to the trade that we need to investigate…

            When making the hummus, mind the process. There is a certain order of ingredients that works best. Check the recipe. Don’t just throw everything into a blender all at once like an animal.

             Remove the skins of the chickpeas.

             Add a scoop of yogurt for creaminess. The best for this is a Lebanese labne. Look it up. :-)

             Cook your own chickpeas from scratch.

             Emulsify the tahini in a water-based liquid first. Water or lemon juice.

By the way, I learned that hummus is just the Arabic word for chickpea. What we are really eating is called hummus bi tahini. Let’s look at some recipes…

 Hummus via Rose Water & Orange Blossom Blog. Recipe HERE.
 
 
 Hummus via Susan Jane White Health Geek Blog. Recipe HERE.
 
 
Avocado Hummus via Cooking Classy with a Sprinkle of Fancy Blog. Recipe HERE
 
 
And just for fun...a pita bread recipe via Under the High Chair Blog. Recipe HERE.
 
Voilà! Hummus mastered… Next up, let’s get into pesto, shall we?

*Something you don’t know about me? My sister and I are polar opposites. However, she is my favorite person to talk to. There is no better laugh than a laugh with your sister. I should also add that there is no better fight as well. But polar opposites we are… My sister only likes new carpets. I only like old nearly threadbare carpets. My sister loves makeup. Carmax is my version of lipstick. My sister is always very pulled together with her outfits. My outfits consist of jeans and a gray Cashmere sweater. My sister will never utter a swearword. I use the F bomb like it is salt, I sprinkle it on every sentence. My sister actually takes the Bible literally. To me, it is fiction. My sister sucks at sports and cannot do the splits. Sports were my life. My sister makes spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer for a party. I would make a goat cheese tart. My sister has never and would never smoke a cigarette. I would smoke a cigarette at church if I could. My sister’s hair is always perfectly blonde and perfectly brushed. My hair is basically a big dreadlock. My sisters decorating style is “white picket fence.” My decorating style is “bohemian.” My sister would rather die than go to the flea market in Paris. I would rather die than go to Crate & Barrel. My sister is very private about her illness (lupus). I am a blabbering open book about my illness (ALS). My sister is a very forgiving person. I am not. My sister, right on time, mails a birthday card arriving exactly 2 days before one’s birthday. I email a Paperless Post card the day of one’s birthday, at best. My sister has proper tea parties. I have karaoke tequila parties.

We do have our similarities… We are both total prudes. We both always did our homework straightaway. We are both extremely overprotective, overbearing mothers. We hate the same people. We laugh at the same things. We both love to cook. We both love to travel. We both love to read and go to museums. We both approve of homeschooling. We are both sad that my brother is no longer with us but at peace that he is in a safer place. The best part is that we both agree that Gracie is the best thing since sliced bread. If anything ever happens to me, I know my sister will have Gracie’s best interest at heart. She may not let Gracie do everything that I would let her do but I know that she will make the best decisions for Gracie. And I know she will always remind Gracie of how awesome I am. She will always make sure that Gracie is appropriate… Appropriate fingernails, appropriate outfits, appropriate boyfriends, appropriate career, appropriate wedding dress, appropriate hair, no piercings, no tattoos (oops, too late) and definitely no swearing. My sister loves Gracie as her own child and for that I will forgive my sister for her Pottery Barn rugs. :-)

26 comments:

  1. Just had hummus in my breakfast...I experimented and put it in my scrambled eggs. Every morning I put something weird in my eggs. Yesterday it was leftover Chipolte. Ha.

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  2. well I guess this is our first fight! Haha I hate hummus. Thinking about hummus makes me want to throw up. It's gritty and slimey and ew I can't go on.
    To be fair-I hate beans. It's a texture thing. So I can offend each and every race and creed with my distaste for beans. Starting at a WASP picnic as I refuse the baked beans. Ewwww.
    My sister and I are same-opposites as well and thank god because I don't think we could stand each other any other way.

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    1. I'm thinking your dislike for the texture of chickpeas might be related to your adult onset autism. Just kidding! I love you no matter what.

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    2. I've never liked peas because of the texture (ditto baked beans) so logically I shouldn't like chickpeas either, but I love both hummus and chickpea salads - go figure!!

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  3. "snot in a shell " Bwahahahahaha! Love that!! You have such a way with words and it tickles my funny bone!

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  4. Funny, I love hummus, ate it today, garlic, I get made fun of a lot about it, eat it all the time, soon, making my own...I can eat a jar of it for a meal...oh, made white trash pot roast last night from your shares, served to a few hungry guys and they ravished it...great comfort food for me and them! xo

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  5. I have one word for hummus...Mamoun's! Greenwich Village, 1970's, and the beginning of my love affair with hummus, babaganouj and falafel's.

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  6. I have two sisters and we are all very different. I was saying to my Mother in Law the other day (she has 4 sisters) that sometimes I feel like someone could write memoirs and it would be very similar to the Mitfords. I think there's something about sisters where they can be totally, brutally honest to each other, and very mean too. And loving, and loyal, but mean. She agreed, so it would seem that thing where all the sisters love and care for each other and are like peas in a pod is most likely not the normal experience.
    Love some hummus, and found an interesting passage in Ottoleghi's Jerusalem cookbook about Hummus where he says everyone in Jerusalem has their own version, and thinks theirs is the best. I love his cookbooks, such delicious fresh flavours.

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  7. To misquote FF who knew that hummus was so divisive?
    Sisters rule... no matter the differing ideas of 'how things should be'. J

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  8. I love hummus!! My brothers and I started making it as kids -- first for a school project -- making food that was representative of ancient cultures, (I went to the Greenwich Village School in Manhattan -- which was public and mostly populated by kids of bohemian artists).
    I am so looking forward to your pesto recipes -- the girl who supplied our local pesto at our food co-op returned home to Germany to look after her ailing father. No one else in town makes it traditionally -- pine nuts, basil, cheese, olive oil, etc...-- it's either vegan and made with tofu, or walnuts are substituted for pine nuts, canola oil for olive oil -- you get the picture -- I've tried them and none are pleasant combinations of ingrediants.
    Some of the things I'd do if I were healthy:
    Make and sell a really great pesto.
    Make my own passementerie and set up shop.
    Create a Conservatory specializing in antique roses that I could have year round.

    Loved hearing about your sister, Ellie. I'm sorry she has Lupus...is it severe?
    Thanks for another fantastic post.
    Hugs,
    Sabrina in Port Townsend

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    1. Make your own pesto, Sabrina. It really only takes a matter of minutes once you have gathered the ingredients. The Co-op has the most beautiful basil.
      Sheila

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  9. Thank you -- now I need a blender. And a sister.

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  10. Hummous,hummus - does anyone know how to spell the darn thing? It doesn't really matter....it's delicious! May I recommend it spread on Ryvita of any type? Lovely snack, or lunch. I'm so glad you still have your sister's love and she yours. I speak from sad experience. It is precious and too important to lose.

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  11. I love hummus! I also love babaganough probably more. When I am in Jerusalem I eat both at least twice a day. In Miami there is an Arab store that has been in the same place for 30 years, they make delicious hummus and babaganough. It makes my heart sing to know that we can all come together and forget religion, race and all they the other bs over good comfort food, if we applied that concept to everything maybe the world would be a better place. You are hilarious, my sister and I are very different too in the same vein as you crate and barrel vs antique stores and flea markets, I still adore her and she adores me but very different we are!
    She will never understand why I would spend the cost of a small car in buying a handbag and at times can be quite judgmental, as you, I know that she will always do what is best for me and knowing that makes all the difference.
    I love the idea of the karaoke tea party, I love love love karaoke and can never find anyone to go with me!
    Xoxoxo

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  12. Hello Eleanor, I hail from Beirut which I think is the hummus capitol. You can get fresh precooked chickpeas for about $1 here and take them home and add whatever. My suggestion is to add a drizzle of pomegranate molasses along with olive oil and the other ingredients ..its delicious. So funny about the Al Qaeda bride thing, thats what my parents thought would happen to me when they found out my husband was Lebanese.

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  13. Just when I think you can't make me laugh any harder you write things like that opening line. :)

    Now, I love making hummus. I even had a French friend ask me to make several kinds (yes) for her 40th birthday party...did you get that? A French person asking an American to bring food? It was a miracle. But only once did I peel the chickpeas. It was endless. Can you just imagine me doing it and counting "one chickpea...two chickpeas...three..." for a whole bowl? No, no, no, never again. Did it make the hummus better? Yes but not so much that it was worth giving up forty minutes of my life no matter how "meditative" some folks will try to make you believe the process is. ;)

    I love my Sister so much. We didn't always get along (to put it mildly) but now we are very close and I am so grateful for it. We are different in our personalities but are really linked by our shared history and support of each other. I know that she always has my back.

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  14. hummus spread on a whole wheat wrap with lettuce and veggies is my answer to a quick lunch.
    I rarely make it from scratch as there is a wonderful company making a variety of tasty options...Tribe.
    i don't think I would have the patience to peel those garbanzo beans!
    My sister has many talents and one of them is growing her own basil and making huge batches of pesto...will look forward to reading your recipe.

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  15. A great hummus sandwich.....crusty bread, hummus, artichoke hearts. Add avocado & tomato slices with a touch of olive tapanade.
    Perfect! I've enjoyed hummus for 30 yrs., so not sure what the big deal is, other than the fact it is a healthy, tasty item to always have in the frig. For additional history, information on hummus & "the wars", David Lebovitz has some very informative posts!

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  16. *sigh* This post makes me miss my Grammie and Sitty. Sitty is the Lebanese word for "Grandmother," and she was my Lebanese great-grandmother who taught my mother how to make hummus from scratch, tahini from scratch, baba gnoush from scratch (my favorite), cabbage rolls (they use grape leaves in the old country), and kibba. My Grammie knew how to make labneh and jibin, as well as Lebanese flat bread (I cannot remember the name), but I have to confess that I do not care for either of them. The other foods are regular fair at my mother's house, especially at Christmas dinner. As traditional as we are with turkey and the like, we always have Lebanese food as well.

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  17. The f-bomb! Awesome;) Wish I had a sister, blessed to have a daughter! xob

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  18. Yummm. Hummus. Cooking the chickpeas yourself and removing the skins are clutch. And making your own pitas is something everybody should try once!
    God bless sisters! Every mom needs a daughter - and every daughter needs a sister. So glad you have one. Take good care. [How was your Valentine's Day?]

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  19. Oh! You are such a stitch! Love hummus, but love your sister more now that I "know" her. I have a Lebanese Grandmother, whose own mama was French and married a Lebanese gentleman, so the food comes down to us...but on sisters, did you see that fantastic photo project in NYT of the 40 years of the. Brown sisters? You' ll love it here is the link. Share it with your sister. I have two sisters, and adore both. Two are homework immediately types, one is bohemian,,,,and Daddy ( yes, we are old ladies but still call the patriarch Daddy, because, hey! We are SOUTH, you see? ) anyhoo...Daddy calls us Dutiful, Useful, and JUst Too Cute. Naturally, the Bohemian is Just Too Cute.

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  20. Oops! Forgot the link to the photo project on sisters. Here you go, Sweet Lady:
    http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/03/magazine/01-brown-sisters-forty-years.html?ref=magazine&_r=0

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  21. Remove skins from chickpeas? I can't. I'm 65 years old already.
    Hugs,
    Sheila

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  22. Anyone who has a sister can identify with your post. So well said, as always. My favorite sentence... I would smoke a cigarette in church. You are so darn funny. As far as hummus, my family loves it. We don't remove the skins of chickpeas tho cause we buy it at the market. Don't hate me.

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