Mashawsha

Cover the chickpeas in water and soak overnight.

Drain and turn into a saucepan, then cover with fresh water. Bring to the boil and skim off any foam. Boil for 5 minutes and skim again. Stir in the bicarbonate of soda. It will bubble up alarmingly, but reduce the heat and simmer, skimming occasionally, for 30 minutes, or until tender. Drain, reserving the cooking water.

To make the tahini sauce, blend the tahini, lemon juice, garlic, cumin and 1⁄2 cup reserved cooking water until smooth. Add salt to taste.

Blend half the warm, drained chickpeas with 3⁄4 of the tahini sauce until smooth and creamy. Season to taste, then turn into small bowls.

Spoon the remaining chickpeas over the hummus. Season lightly. Spoon over the remaining tahini sauce. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with paprika and parsley.

Serve with pitas and a small side salad if you like.

Cook's note: If you like hummus, you’re going to love mashawsha (also known as musabaha and msabbaha).

Mashawsha is a dish traditionally served for breakfast, or a weekend brunch, with various pickles, fresh radish
and spring onion. Use pitas to scoop it up when eating. Follow the above recipe, then add this lemon-chilli sauce for a final flourish:

Mix 4 T lemon juice with 2 T white wine vinegar, 2 t finely chopped parsley, 2 crushed garlic cloves, 1 finely chopped green chilli and 1⁄4 t salt. Drizzle the sauce over the mashawsha just before serving.

Vidar Bergum writes in A Kitchen in Istanbul: ‘It takes the ingredients of hummus and turns it into a closely related, but quite different, dish.’