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Hummus bi Tahina
This recipe is a favourite Middle Eastern starter dip, usually served with flat bread.
In recent weeks, on our tour of the Mediterranean, we have been looking at the real common denominators that appear in cooking all over the region: the olive, its oil, and garlic.
All of these are so extensively used in cookery that they have formed an almost mystical relationship with the local psyche.
Thus, wherever you turn in the Mediterranean, you find superstitions and
traditions surrounding these ingredients, particularly, as mentioned last week, in connection with the evil eye.
The sort of people who are most likely to attract the evil eye are those who are stunningly beautiful, extremely intelligent, unnaturally gifted or irresistibly charming. Or perhaps even all of these things.
And since there is hardly a parent in the world who doesn't ascribe at least one of these attributes to their offspring, there are plenty of perceived opportunities for the evil eye to work its terrible magic!
Thus, whereas there are certain measures people can take to ward off the evil eye in certain specific situations, there is also a more general prophylactic 'belt and braces' approach that seeks to build an impenetrable magic shield around the potential object of envy, like a sort of mystical force field.
This approach can be found all over the eastern Mediterranean, where cloves of garlic are routinely sewn into the lining of garments worn by any adults, children or babies who are believed capable of tempting or provoking the evil eye.
Sometimes even animals are protected. It is not unusual to find a favourite family dog with a clove or bulb of garlic dangling from its
collar!
Incidentally, the tradition has also obviously penetrated to western Europe, where the best protection against standard bogeymen such as Count Dracula and the werewolf and other gentlemen of vampiric and lycanthropic tendencies is generally reckoned to be a good dose of garlic.
On the more mundane level, the tradition of the evil eye has strong links to what we call the 'green-eyed monster' of envy or jealousy.
In a slightly distorted version, I wonder if it is also the source of that quaint Scottish description for somebody who is indiscriminately envious of other people's possessions: "He canna see green cheese!"
The meaning is that the person cannot even see somebody eating mouldy cheese without wanting some himself, but the common elements of envy, sight and the colour green suggest a link to the tradition of the evil eye.
This week's recipe is a favourite Middle Eastern starter dip, usually served with flat bread.
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Hummus bi Tahina
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INGREDIENTS (serves 4)
8oz/225g chickpeas, picked clean and soaked in water overnight
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
3 tbsp tahina paste
juice of 1.5 lemons
1.5 tsp ground cumin
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
0.5 pints/300ml chickpea cooking liquid
salt and freshly-ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of paprika to garnish
METHOD
1. Wash the chickpeas and strain. Bring to the boil with plenty of water. Skim the cooking liquid, cover and cook for 90 minutes until the chickpeas are soft. Strain and reserve the cooking liquid.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the chickpeas and blend in a food processor. The result should he grainy and runny. Adjust the seasoning and blend again briefly.
3. Pour onto a large plate and sprinkle decoratively with oil and paprika before serving with hot flat bread such as pitta.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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