🇵🇸 Palestine
Msabbaha
مسبّحة · msabbaḥa
Hummus’s warm, chunky cousin — whole and lightly mashed chickpeas ‘swimming’ in a lemony tahini-garlic sauce, finished with cumin, parsley and pine nuts. A classic Palestinian breakfast.
Serves 2–3 (5–6 as mezze)
Photo to come
Ingredients
- 200g dried chickpeas (~2 cups cooked) + 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 bay leaf · 3 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup each tahini, lemon juice, olive oil
- 1 tsp salt · 1 tsp cumin (optional)
- ½ cup reserved chickpea water
- Topping: parsley, 2 tsp sumac, 2 tbsp pine nuts, 2 tbsp oil
Method
- Soak the chickpeas 12–48 hours, then simmer with garlic, bay leaf and baking soda until very tender (about 45–90 minutes); drain, reserving ½ cup liquid.
- Set aside some whole chickpeas; roughly mash the rest.
- Whisk the tahini, oil, lemon, garlic and cumin and loosen with the warm chickpea water.
- Fold the sauce into the warm chickpeas, then top with the reserved chickpeas, oil, pine nuts, parsley and sumac. Serve warm with bread.
The family table
The point is texture — msabbaha is deliberately chunky and warm, unlike smooth, cold hummus. It’s shared across the Levant; some Palestinian versions finish it with shatta (chili sauce) for heat.
Yumma
Middle Eastern home cooking, organized by country. Your family’s version is the one that counts. · info@yummarecipes.com