Better than hummus!? Msabaha is an awesome, quick and easy dish that has the potential for a great summer feast.

BEIRUT BITES

I ate this mainly for breakfast on a recent trip to Beirut. Warm, with crisp tomatoes and pepper, plus fresh, thin pitta bread, it set me up for days traveling around the fascinating country of Lebanon. It’s a simple dish and can be ready in minutes.

Msabaha (some spell it Mussabaha, Msabbacha, Mschabeca, Messabbeha but in Lebanon, I saw Msabaha. I hope that makes some sense) is a great twist on hummus, containing most of the same ingredients. This is a really creamy, more-ish way of serving chickpeas, perfect as a picnic mezza.

I was sharing a table with a friendly American one morning and I recommended the Msabaha, he exclaimed “THIS IS THE NEW HUMMUS MAN!!” I’m not sure about that, but I don’t think it really matters. It’s just Msabaha. And it’s just amazing.

CHICKPEA LOVIN’

The Lebanese love, I mean love, their chickpeas. I excitedly ordered a dish in a bar/restaurant (there are loads of excellent bars and restaurants in Beirut, especially in and around Gemmayzeh). What showed up was basically a bowl of chickpeas, dusted with cumin and a splash of olive oil. It was delicious, but still, just a bowl of chickpeas straight up.

The main challenge with traveling for me is re-creating the dishes that I loved once I arrive back home. It can be a thankless task, we cannot recreate the chickpeas here, for some reason, they taste so much better in the Med/Middle East. Also, the veg, the cucumbers and tomatoes in Lebanon were a constant sensation. We can’t replicate their fertile soil and sun. But we can try and we can get close.

THE BEST SOUVENIRS ARE RECIPES!

The funny-ish thing about traveling is we go away and sample all of these delicious delicacies and local people are unfazed by the adulation. It’s like a tourist wandering into a Gregg’s and getting worked up about a pasty. These kinds of dishes are what everyone eats, they’re the working persons’ food: cheap, delicious, plentiful and ever present. In Britain, I think things like good chips and mushy peas, or a cheese and pickle sandwich (now back on the menu with vegan cheddar), or maybe even the perfect shepherd-less or apple pie are our equivalent of hummus, falafels, baklava and the like. Simple food that everyone loves! My best souvenirs are always recipes like these and delicious memories.

THE GREAT HUMMUS DEBATE – WHICH IS BEST?

Basically, don’t go there!! In Lebanon, hummus recipes are precise and it can be a point for debate. I’ve encountered this in other countries, many little variations, some say add ice and blend, others say only use a hand masher and some say painstakingly remove the jacket from each individual chickpea.

Most people I spoke to in Beirut said to keep it simple. No garlic, no spices. Just lemon, salt and a little olive oil. The hummus we eat in the UK, especially those pale imitations in the supermarkets, is nothing like the one in Lebanon and Egypt. Their hummus is super creamy and perfectly balanced, also, the olive oil is normally very fruity.

In Lebanon, the folk I spoke to would never put cumin in hummus and many would not dream of garlic. No, no, no, nooooo! “Garlic!! Are you crazy Britishman!!” Direct quotes from a falafel stand in Beirut.

I love the simplicity of Msabaha, so easy to get very wrong and incredible when mastered. I’m no master, but this is a decent effort I reckon. If you’re from Lebanon, please try it and send me your kind and not-too-harsh feedback. Chokran!!