Hummus Kassa
28 ingredient hummus garnished with olives, herbs, and olive oil
City/Region: Cairo, Egypt
Time Period: 14th Century
Kanz al-fawa’id fi tanwi al-mawa’id (Treasure Trove of Benefits and Variety at the Table) is a medieval Egyptian cookbook that offers up more than just recipes. There are rules for the cleanliness of cook and kitchen, including having a separate knife for chopping onion and garlic. The author/compiler also gives advice on when to drink water, recipes for the foamy beers called fuqqa, and what you’d typically expect from a cookbook in recipes for meat, fish, desserts, sauces, and more.
There are 10 recipes for hummus in the cookbook, all of which are more complicated than most modern hummuses. This one looked the most complex to me with 28 ingredients, and a lot of those flavors come through. First I got the olive, followed by the freshness of the mint, then all the different nuts. It doesn’t turn out as smooth as modern hummus, but it’s really interesting and really delicious.
“Hummus Kassa
Take boiled chickpeas and pound them into fine mush. Add vinegar, sweet olive oil, tahini, black pepper, atraf tib, mint, Macedonian parsley, and a bit of dried rue. Also add walnuts, almonds, pistachios, and hazelnuts - all pounded as well as Ceylon cinnamon, toasted caraway seeds, coriander, salt, lemon preserved in salt, and olives. Mix it all, spread the mix in a bowl or plate, set it aside for a day and then serve. It will come out good, God willing.”
Ingredients:
Atraf Tib
- 1 teaspoon dried spikenard*
- 2 small dried bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon mace*
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/8 teaspoon clove
- 1 teaspoon dried rosebuds*
- 1/2 teaspoon long pepper*
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Hummus
- 1 cup (200 g) dried chickpeas
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) tahini
- 1/4 cup (30 g) walnuts
- 1/4 cup (30 g) blanched almonds
- 1/4 cup (45 g) shelled pistachios
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) white wine vinegar
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint
- 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1 teaspoon dried rue*
- 1/4 cup (30 g) hazelnuts
- 1/4 teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground caraway seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- 3/4 teaspoon rock salt
- 1/4 lemon preserved in salt, chopped fine
- 1/2/ cup (80 g) chopped olives
- 1 teaspoon atraf tib, recipe above
*See notes below.
Instructions:
- For the atraf tib: Grind all of the ingredients and mix them together. This makes more than you’ll need for the hummus, so you can scale down or save some for later.
- For the hummus: Cover the dried chickpeas with plenty of water and soak them for 8 hours. They soak up a lot of water, so you might need more than you think at first.
- Drain the soaked chickpeas, rinse them, and put them in a pot with enough water to cover them plus about 4 inches. Bring the pot to a simmer, cover, and cook over medium heat for about 90 minutes, or until they’re soft and will easily mush. Drain the chickpeas and let them cool.
- Stir the tahini and 1/2 cup (120 ml) cold water together until combined.
- Crush or chop the nuts.
- When the chickpeas have cooled, mash them. You can mash them by hand with a mortar and pestle, but it takes forever and you need a really big mortar and pestle. I suggest that you use a food processor and blend them until smooth.
- Add in all of the other ingredients, then blend once again until smooth.
- Dish the hummus onto a plate, spread it out, and cover with foil. Refrigerate overnight so that all of the 28 ingredients can get to know each other.
- After the hummus has rested, take it out of the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Garnish with additional herbs, nuts, olives, and/or a drizzle of olive oil, and serve it forth with some pita.
Notes
- Spikenard is an herb that has a unique sweet, earthy muskiness. The oil form is more common, but is used in perfumes and is not for use in food. Get the dried root for use in recipes.
- Mace comes from the outside of a nutmeg seed and tastes similar to nutmeg with notes of cinnamon and black pepper. It's used in a lot of historical recipes and is definitely worth getting.
- Long pepper is hotter than black pepper and has a more aromatic, almost flowery quality to it that's wonderful.
- Rue is a bitter herb that was used in a lot of historical recipes. It's mildly toxic and should only be consumed in very small amounts, if at all. Do not eat rue if you are pregnant!
- Link to spikenard: https://mountainroseherbs.com/spikenard-root
- Link to mace: https://amzn.to/3SMkVJ5
- Link to dried rosebuds: https://www.amazon.com/FullChea-Food-grade-Fragrant-Rosebuds-Crafting/dp/B09SZ4Y27Z/ref=sr_1_1_sspa
- Link to long pepper: https://amzn.to/3ui5j5L
- Link to rue: https://amzn.to/3yErUqH
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