A different hummus

I read chapter after chapter of William Sitwell's book A History of Food in 100 Recipes, slowly sipping my morning coffee when I found something interesting. “Other dishes include carrot jam (sort of chutney), quince cordial and a recipe for hummus incorporating pickled lemons, cinnamon, ginger, parsley, mint and rue – although as rue is almost toxic, substituting it with rosemary would be a safer bet.” It was a fragment from Chapter XIII on a subject covering meatballs in pomegranate sauce theme somewhere around 1250. 

It made me wonder. It made me imagine. It made me make. Make a hummus similar to the one in the book. When the evening came, I did whip it up in a 13th-century manner serving with lemon yogurt and soaked raisins (a picture inspiration I saw on Ottolenghi Instagram some day a long time ago). And it turned out beautifully in every way. 

Ingredients

50 g raisins, soaked in cold water for at least 4h

Hummus:
230 g drained canned chickpeas
2 tsp tahini paste
1 tsp preserved lemon
1/3 tsp finely chopped rosemary
1 garlic clove pressed through a garlic press
¼ tsp cinnamon
20 ml extra virgin olive oil
50-80 ml chickpea liquid, if needed
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
1 tbsp finely chopped mint
sea salt to taste
freshly ground pepper to taste

to serve:
150 g greek yogurt
1/3 preserved lemon, chopped to a paste-like consistency
freshly ground pepper
pinch of sea salt

Prepare

Place all of the tahini ingredients (except parsley and peppermint) and blend until you have a creamy texture to your desired thickness. Don't add all of the chickpea water in the beginning. Add 20 ml at first and then add more only if needed. 

Mix all of the yogurt ingredients. 

Put hummus on a plate and spread, making a hole on one side or in the middle. Place yogurt there. Sprinkle with soaked (water dried) raisins, more pepper, and some salt if needed.