Love at first taste:Hummus;a dietary obsession ever since

It was Nasarka, a family friend of ours for years, who recommended the dish for the first time. He put it in such a way that I had the urge to try it out then and there ... which I did. My taste buds judged the result to have come out perfectly, which was very unusual for my personality type, as I typically take time to befriend and love someone new I meet. But this was definitely love at first sight. The dish thrilled the neuroreceptors in all of the six tongues in our little family. It has been a firm favorite in our household ever since; a delicacy of Anatolian descent, but a guest no more.  

 If you still wonder what hummus really is, I can’t put it any better than the American Heritage Dictionary, which describes it as "a smooth, thick mixture of mashed chickpeas, tahini, oil, lemon juice, and garlic, used especially as a dip for pita". Let me add that the preferred oil is olive oil, since the original and authentic recipe calls for it. If you guessed that the dish originated in olive-growing countries - present-day Turkey, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel - you would be entirely correct. It has become a standard part of Middle Eastern cuisine around the world, so you can find it even in the remotest corners of the world these days.

Interestingly, hummus is not a cooked food; it involves no boiling, steaming, baking or grilling. Just soak the chickpeas and, once softened, blend together with the rest of the ingredients for a creamy texture. This way it is guaranteed that nothing will be lost in the process. Take note, though, that some people don’t wait for the chickpeas to soak, but cook them instead. Either way, they will have a smooth texture after blending.

Feel like trying, and want me to share my recipe? I confess I will have to plagiarize then, and I won’t look good if you go online for more information and discover my plagiarism. So google it yourself. Google will surprise you with about 34,400,000 results in 0.57 seconds, with thousands of variations and permutations. And as my friend Lourens Erasmus used to say, tongue-in-the-cheek: "If it’s on the internet, it must be true".