Hummus Fatteh: Chickpea salad inspired by Lebanese cuisine

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Broadly generalizing, Kashmiris are not very fond of pulses/daals. Back home, we would only cook daal in winters on occasions when all road connectivity to Kashmir would be closed down for several days due to snowfall, and consequently it would be impossible to find meat in the market. That, or when the butchers would go on a strike for a couple of days in demand for a price hike. A demand easily met each time, because Kashmiris’ love for meat is unconditional.

Only to make up for the protein in our version of balanced diet, on such days, quite reluctantly, we would cook daal. Daals are so under-rated that even now, my family is confused between chola daal and channa daal. Not me though. I love chickpeas. I have always loved chickpeas, and for that matter, all beans and pulses. But back home, I didn’t realize how versatile these were. I knew only two ways to eat chickpeas- chol’e daal (curry) and chola puri. Now that I’m a culinary explorer, I’ve found my love for chickpeas having grown two fold. I toss them in pasta, salads, soups, shawarma, etc., especially on days we go for vegetarian food. I even tried chickpea blondies one time but I haven’t perfected the recipe yet. So, more on that later someday.

I first had the chance to try hummus fatteh or fattet hummus in a Syrian restaurant. Not ordering it was out of question because for one, it had chickpeas, and for another it was something quite interesting and unique. Well, I liked it so much that I analyzed it thoroughly enough to be able to recreate it later. A few days later, when I sat down to Google the recipe at home, my memory let me down as usual and I couldn’t remember the name. *Brag alert* I still managed to put together a concoction that tasted close enough. By the second time I tried the recipe, one of us had managed to recall the name: hummus fatteh. And this time I added the only ingredient I had missed last time- tahini. Both ways it came out so good.

Hummus Fatteh is a Lebanese dish typically had for breakfast but for us, it fits in well for a weekend brunch or lunch. The perceived excellence of Lebanese cuisine in our lives has been set by the glorious shawarma. As a Kashmiri, while growing up (later years of growing up actually), shawarma meant for us what McDonalds means to an American: the all time favourite, most hyped, most sought after fast food. So, trying something that belongs to the same cuisine is exciting, at least for me.

This recipe is basically layers of chickpeas, shredded chicken, croutons made with pita bread, toasted pine nuts and some salad greens, all served with a garlicy lemon-yogurt sauce. A dash of tahini can be added to make it more authentic. For someone looking to try different recipes, this medley of the flavourful yogurt, wholesome chickpeas, crunchy croutons and buttery pine nuts is worth a try.

If you like this, do check out this another great salad recipe using chickpeas.