Musabaha or msabaha dip is deeply flavorful and fragrant, thanks to the chickpeas, tahini, garlic and lemon juice, looks like we are talking about hummus, well not exactly, while the ingredients are common with hummus, the technique, texture and taste is different; musabaha is simply warm cooked whole chickpeas bathed in lemony tahini sauce, it is part of the Lebanese breakfast spread alongside balila or foul medames serve it with Lebanese bread to soak up the dip with.
What makes musabaha different than hummus and balila?
- Musabaha comes from the verb saba7a in Arabic, which translates to swim, so the chickpeas should roughly mashed but kept chunky to swim in the lemony tahini sauce, ending up with that rustic look rather than a smooth puree consistency like that of hummus.
- Musabaha is meant to be served warm, while hummus is served at room temperature.
- Musabaha has tahini, balila involves no tahini, and some balila versions don’t include lemon( people here are divided).
The quality of your finished musabaha starts with the quality of the ingredients, yes cook your own chickpeas from dried, use a good tanini brand and use freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Ingredients
- Dried Chickpeas: A big no to canned chickpeas, they will never delver the texture and flavor of dried chickpeas, so please stick to dried chickpeas.
- Tahini: Use a good tahini brand in hummus. No bias here, but Lebanese tahini brands are the best
- Fresh Lemons: Use fresh lemon juice, strain the lemon to avoid lemon pulps penetrating musabaha, that eventually would create a bitter taste.
- Garlic: Crush the garlic to a smooth paste.
- Baking Soda: Used in soaking the chickpeas and upon boiling.
- Salt: Obviously, to balance flavors.
- Water: The liquid to soak the chickpeas and cook them.
Once you have your musabaha waiting for you, think about the garnish, sprinkle cumin powder and paprika (if desired) and drizzle a swirl of olive oil, garnish with fresh mint leaves or parsley; red onion is another appealing option.
Looking for more Lebanese breakfast recipes, we got you covered!
- Manakish, Lebanese Flat Bread with Different Toppings
- Manakish in a Skillet
- Foul Medames
- Balila
- Hummus
- Knafeh
- Northern Lebanese Flat Kaak
- Kaak Al Asreya
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Why are you against canned chickpeas?
I am not against the idea of using canned items, but when it comes to a recipe where the major ingredient is chickpea, I would never go for the canned option, not just because I want to stick to authenticity, but msabaha, balila or hummus are at their best only when the chickpeas are so tender that they collapse with the slightest pressure, in these recipes chickpeas should be soft enough to squish easily when working with, this will never happen using canned chickpeas, another important reason is the taste, canned chickpeas have a bland, metallic taste that cannot match the deep, nutty flavor of freshly boiled chickpeas.
Musabaha (Warm Chickeas Bathed in Tahini Sauce)
Description
Ingredients
- 2 cups dried chickpeas
- 2 fresh lemons, squeezed
- 2/3 cup tahini
- 1 cup water
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- Salt to taste
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda to soak the dried chickpeas with and 1 teaspoon baking soda to use while cooking the chickpeas
Instructions
- In a bowl, add the dried chickpeas and cover with twice its volume with cold water, add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, leave on your kitchen bench to soak overnight.
- Once the chickpeas have been rehydrated, drain the water they have been soaking in and add them to a large pot and cover with 1 1/2 liters/ 6 cups of fresh water. Bring to a boil, remove the scum that appears on top and add the rest of baking soda. The scum will appear one more time after the addition of baking soda, remove the scum one more time. Turn down the heat and simmer gently until they’re tender – they need to be easy mushed when pressed with your fingers, and almost falling apart, will take about 1 hour or more, depending on your chickpeas; add more hot water if they seem to be boiling dry.
- Prepare the tahini sauce: It is crucial to stir the tahini jar well before using, since the solids are settled in the bottom of the jar. Add the mentioned amount in a bowl and whisk together the crushed garlic, lemon juice and water. You will notice first that the mix will seize up a bit when mixed with other liquids, just keep whisking and it will quickly smooth out and homogenize with the other ingredients.; you should end up end up with a considerably thin paste like consistency; add just a bit of water if it looks thick to you. Adjust salt to taste preference, we don’t want a bland flavor.
- Prepare a deep serving plate, remove the warm chickpeas with a slotted spoon, (no problem if some of the the chickpeas liquid leaked with them) and transfer them to the serving plate, drizzle the lemony tahini sauce and using the back of a spoon, roughly mash the chickpeas, make sure to keep it considerably chunky (this is one of the major differences between hummus bi tahini and musabaha, the consistency, taste the salt one last time.
- Garnish: Sprinkle cumin powder and paprika (if desired) and drizzle a swirl of olive oil, garnish with fresh mint leaves or parsley; red onion is another appealing option.
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