What is hummus? What it is made of, and how it is eaten at a Levantine table
Hummus is a purée of cooked chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt, finished with olive oil. The word is simply Arabic for chickpea, and the dish’s full name, hummus bi tahina, means chickpeas with tahini. Across the Levant it is scooped up with warm bread and eaten as a meal as often as a dip.
What is hummus made of?
Hummus is made of chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt, and that is the classic recipe complete. Dried chickpeas are soaked overnight, cooked until they crush easily between two fingers, then blended while still warm with tahini, which is sesame seeds ground to a paste. Lemon brings sharpness, garlic brings bite, and a little cold water loosens it until it is smooth. Olive oil usually goes on top rather than in.
Everything else is a variation. Cumin, paprika and sumac are common finishes, and harissa blended through makes a spicy hummus. The base changes less from kitchen to kitchen than what goes on top of it.
At Nabäti, the Hummus on the menu is chickpeas, tahini and lemon with a drizzle of olive oil, topped with Tatbeeleh, a traditional Jordanian sauce of green chilli, lemon and garlic, and served with warm pita. The Spicy Hummus is blended with harissa. If tahini is the word you had to look up, what tahini, za’atar and harissa are has its own page.
Is hummus vegan?
Yes. Chickpeas, tahini, lemon, garlic, salt and olive oil are all plant based, so classic hummus has nothing from an animal in it. What changes the answer is what goes on top or alongside. Hummus topped with minced meat is common across the region, and in some dishes a yoghurt sauce is poured over the chickpeas.
Nabäti’s kitchen is vegetarian and there is no meat in it at all. On the menu page, the Hummus, Spicy Hummus, Hummus & Falafel and Msabbaha all carry the filled leaf, which means vegan as served. The Classic Hummus Fatteh carries the outlined leaf, because its sauce is garlic yoghurt tahini, and the note on it says the non-dairy dressing removes the dairy. That is what "vegan on request" means on our menu. If what you typed was vegan restaurant in Rotterdam, here is the honest answer about where we sit.
Is hummus gluten free?
Hummus itself contains no wheat. Chickpeas, tahini, lemon, garlic and oil have no gluten in them. The gluten usually arrives with the bread, because hummus is almost always eaten with pita. And tahini is sesame, so hummus always contains sesame.
On Nabäti’s menu page the Hummus lists gluten and sesame, and the note beside it says the gluten comes from the warm pita served alongside.
Nabäti publishes allergen information per dish on the menu page, and our kitchen handles all of the allergens listed there. Equipment and utensils are shared between dishes, so we cannot guarantee that any dish is completely free of an allergen, even when an ingredient is left out on request. Please tell our staff about any allergy before you order, and they will check the specific dish with the kitchen.
Is hummus healthy?
It is mostly chickpeas, a pulse that brings protein and fibre, while tahini and olive oil make it fairly rich. So the answer depends on how much you eat and what with. As one part of a table with salad, pickles and bread it sits in a sensible place. A whole tub with a bag of crisps is a different meal.
What do you eat with hummus?
Bread, first. Warm pita or flatbread, torn off and used as the spoon, is how hummus is eaten across the Levant. After that the usual partners are falafel on top, raw vegetables and pickles alongside, and warm dishes of beans on the same table.
On the Nabäti menu, Hummus & Falafel puts crispy falafel balls on top of the hummus, in threes, sixes or twelves, with warm pita, and fresh vegetables and mixed pickles can be added. Hummus is also the spread inside two sandwiches: the Traditional Falafel, four falafel balls smashed onto hummus in warm pita with tomato tahini salad, pickles and mint, and the Makali sandwich of fried cauliflower, aubergine and courgette. It is layered into the three fatteh bowls too, which are fatteh, and where to eat it in Rotterdam. If falafel is the next question, is falafel vegan, and what changes the answer covers it.
Where does hummus come from?
Nobody can say for certain. Chickpeas have been grown around the eastern Mediterranean for thousands of years, and cookbooks written in Cairo in the thirteenth century describe a cold chickpea purée that some food historians see as an early relative. The version eaten today, with tahini and lemon, is a dish of the whole eastern Mediterranean, and more than one country claims it.
Nabäti cooks the Jordanian version, from family cooking in Amman. The wider table it belongs to is on our page about Levantine food in Rotterdam.
How hummus is served in Jordan
In Jordan, as across the Levant, hummus is breakfast as much as lunch, spread in a shallow plate and eaten with bread, falafel and ful, the warm mashed fava beans. The Jordanian finish is Tatbeeleh, the green chilli, lemon and garlic sauce that goes over the top of the Hummus here.
The dish to try alongside it is Msabbaha. It is the same idea as hummus with the chickpeas left whole: warm whole chickpeas with tahini, garlic and lemon, finished with olive oil, parsley, paprika and cumin, served with warm pita. Foul Mdammas, slow cooked fava beans mashed with garlic and lemon, is on the same page of the menu.
Where can you eat hummus in Rotterdam?
Nabäti Eatery is on Keizerstraat 168 in Rotterdam Centrum, about five minutes on foot from Blaak. That is the short answer, and the rest of the menu around it is on our page about falafel and hummus in Rotterdam. Hummus is on the menu as Hummus, Spicy Hummus, Hummus & Falafel and Msabbaha, inside the Traditional Falafel and Makali sandwiches, under the fatteh bowls, and on the A Bit of Everything and A Fresh Spread platters. For four to six people, the Gathering Box and the Picnic Box both carry hummus and spicy hummus, and ordering for a group explains how to size an order.
There is no meat in the kitchen and no alcohol served, which is what halal by composition means here. It is not a certificate, and the restaurant does not claim one. The Hummus with a half Traditional Falafel, both vegan as served, is the quick way to do a vegan lunch in Rotterdam near Blaak.
Before you order
If you eat vegan, look for the leaf on the dish. If you have an allergy, tell the counter so the kitchen can check the dish rather than the menu. See our menu: falafel, hummus and the rest of the Jordanian table, or come to Keizerstraat 168, Rotterdam Centrum and order the Hummus with warm pita first.
Frequently asked questions
What is hummus?
A purée of cooked chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt, finished with olive oil. The word is Arabic for chickpea. Across the Levant it is eaten with warm bread, as a meal as often as a dip.
What is hummus made of?
Chickpeas, tahini (ground sesame paste), lemon juice, garlic and salt, with olive oil poured over when it is served. Cumin, paprika, sumac or harissa are common additions.
Is hummus vegan?
Yes, classic hummus is entirely plant based. What can change that is a topping such as minced meat, or a yoghurt sauce poured over it in some dishes.
Is hummus gluten free?
Hummus itself contains no wheat, but it is almost always eaten with pita, which does, and it always contains sesame from the tahini. If you have an allergy, ask the kitchen about the specific dish.
What do you eat with hummus?
Warm pita or flatbread first, then falafel on top, raw vegetables and pickles alongside, and warm bean dishes such as ful on the same table.
Where can you eat hummus in Rotterdam?
At Nabäti Eatery, Keizerstraat 168 in Rotterdam Centrum, about five minutes from Blaak. The menu has Hummus, Spicy Hummus, Hummus & Falafel and Msabbaha, plus hummus in the sandwiches, fatteh bowls and platters.
