Happy Sunday! Today’s recipe is a great starter dish. Or you can make this the main event and serve a salad alongside. Hummus and Spiced Lamb is a Middle Eastern dish known as Hummus B’Lahmeh. If you search for this dish on the internet you will find there are myriad recipes for Hummus and Spiced Lamb. It’s very simple to prepare; using typical Middle Eastern spices like cinnamon, cumin seeds, and coriander to flavor the ground lamb. Today’s recipe incorporates another Middle Eastern ingredient, pomegranate molasses, to deglaze the pan while browning the lamb. It adds a wonderful sweet-tart flavor that is really fantastic with the creamy hummus. Let’s jump right in!
The Summary
Today we are making a wonderful Middle Eastern starter dish
Be sure to find the shoppable key ingredients and equipment at the end of the post
Hummus and Spiced Lamb
1. Prep the Chickpeas
For this recipe, I wanted to make an ultra-creamy hummus. If you like, you can skip making the hummus from scratch and use your favorite store-bought hummus; but I will say the scratch version will be much better!
To achieve the creamiest hummus, we need to prep the canned chickpeas. Drain and rinse the 15.5-ounce can of chickpeas. Add them to a saucepan and sprinkle ½ teaspoon of baking soda over the chickpeas. Then, add water to the saucepan to cover the chickpeas by a few inches. Bring to a boil over high heat and boil for about 20 minutes. You want the chickpeas to overcook, basically. Their skins will fall off and become so soft there’s no need to peel the beans.
When they’re done, after about 20 minutes of boiling, drain the chickpeas through a fine mesh sieve and run cold water over them. Set aside.
While the chickpeas are boiling, let’s move on to the lamb.
2. The Spiced Lamb
In a large skillet, sauté diced onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat until the onion is soft, about 4-5 minutes.
Add the cinnamon, cumin seeds, and ground coriander to the onions and stir to toast and mix in the spices, about 1 minute.
Then add the minced lamb to the pan and brown the lamb while breaking it apart. When the lamb is mostly browned, deglaze the pan with the 2 tablespoons of pomegranate molasses. Stir up any brown bits and continue cooking for another few minutes, until the lamb is cooked through. Reduce the heat to very low to keep the lamb hot while we prepare the hummus. Stir occasionally while you make the hummus.
3. Make the Hummus
Before we start, I will say that my tahini had separated so that all the oil was on top and the tahini was a thick, tough paste at the bottom of the jar. To remedy this, before I measured out my tahini for this recipe, I dumped and scraped the oil and the paste into my food processor and processed until it was emulsified and smooth. I then transferred the tahini out and into a separate jar. Then, I measured out ½ cup of smooth tahini.
Now, add the roughly chopped garlic and kosher salt to the food processor. Add the lemon juice. Process until the garlic is more finely chopped. Let the garlic sit with the lemon juice for about 5 minutes, to let the garlic flavor mellow out a bit.
Add the tahini to the processor and process until the tahini is thick and creamy.
Now, with the processor running, add two tablespoons of ice water through the top feeder tube of the lid. You will notice the thick, creamy tahini will immediately loosen, become more creamy and light in color.
Next, add the ground cumin and the overcooked chickpeas. Begin to process the mixture and while the processor is running, drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil through the top feeder tube. Process until very smooth. About 2-4 minutes.
Taste the hummus and add kosher salt and more lemon juice to taste. Let the hummus sit while you chop the mint and parsley for the garnish. Cut the heat on the lamb and give it a good stir.
Hummus and Spiced Lamb
Pour the hummus onto a serving platter and spread around with the back of a spoon.
Use a slotted spoon to add the spiced lamb to the top of the hummus. Give the plate a squeeze of lemon. Then sprinkle the minced herbs on top.
Now, you can top with more garnishes like pomegranate seeds and/or toasted pine nuts. If you like, drizzle a little more pomegranate molasses over the top.
Serve with warm pita. And that’s it!
I will say that if you don’t want to use the pomegranate molasses, you can make a fine Hummus and Spiced Lamb dish; but – pomegranate molasses is a bit of a revelation. It’s like balsamic glaze but it has a fresher, fruitier, brighter quality to it that feels great for summer. I kinda want to drizzle it over everything! And this ultra-creamy homemade hummus is to die for! Don’t skip this part of the recipe, it’ll be the best hummus of your life!
When the Djalalis go out for Persian food, this is one appetizer we always enjoy, and while this recipe is a little different, it was a great pleasure to recreate it at home. I hope you give it a try!
Key Ingredients and Equipment
OXO Adjustable Measuring Cup | 14-cup Food Processor | pomegranate molasses | tahini | Citrus Juicer
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