Over the weekend, I decided to make my own حُمُّص hummus since it’s very easy to make and because no matter how hard I search here in American supermarkets, I can never find one that tastes close to home. Then I began thinking about the أصْل origin of hummus and why people love this simple spread so much. So, I did a little بَحْث research and thought to share with you in this post what I learned along with a couple hummus وَصْفات recipes in Arabic.

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هَل تُحِب الحُمُّص؟

هَل أكلت الحُمُّص مِن قَبل؟

Where did hummus originate?     مِن أينَ نَشأ الحُمُّص؟

Turns out العرب Arabs, الإسرائيليين Israelis, الأتراك Turks, and اليونانيون Greeks all like to يَدَّعي claim that they first created hummus. No one can say for sure where it truly comes from, but the earliest mention of this spread dates back to 13^th century Egypt. Chickpeas were and are وَفير abundant in the Middle East and are still commonly eaten. In fact, the Arabic word for chickpea is “حُمُّص”.

The basic hummus recipe.   .وَصفة الحُمُص الأساسية

Hummus is almost always made by combining الحُمُّص chickpeas, طَحينة sesame paste, عَصير لَيمون lemon juice and مَلْح salt. Some like to add ثوم garlic in the mix or mix it in after. I personally don’t add anything but salt and sprinkle كَمون cumin and سُماق sumac once it’s on a plate. Of course, a good drizzle of زَيت الزَيتون olive oil is a must. You’ll find that across the Middle East, there are numerous إختلافات variations of what to add to a plate of حُمُّص and how to تزيين garnish the plate. Of course restaurants يَتَنافَس compete to make the best plate of حُمُّص  and try to make theirs مُتَمَيِّز unique.

Is hummus healthy?  هَل الحُمُّص صحي؟

Hummus is high in ألياف fiber and بروتين protein and makes you feel شَبْعان full.

Recipes for making hummus:  وَصْفات لِعَمل الحُمُّص

This first video shows how hummus is made in Modern Standard Arabic.

طريقة عمل الحمص

Here is a cooking show showing how to make hummus in Levantine Arabic. It’s a bit long, but if you would like to listen to more Levantine Arabic, I think you’ll enjoy this video.

أطيب طريقة لعمل الحمص

Hope you give making hummus at a home a try!

Till next week, happy Arabic learning! 😊