Taking the Italian invention of gelato and making it the most “local” we’ve ever seen is a new Israeli sweet treat: hummus-flavored ice-cream. Made from chickpeas, this Middle East treat isn’t just for dipping your pita anymore. Served in Jaffa, La Genda makes their frozen delicacy with chickpeas, tahini, vanilla and sugar – plus some stabilizers.
“I am a hummus freak. I always thought that one day we should make ice cream out of hummus, and after many experiments, we checked the right temperature, the right kind of grains, and achieved the perfect product,” said owner Michael Mina to an Israeli television station.
Related: Would you try chocolate hummus?
One taste tester wrote, that while it’s supposed to have some olive oil in it as well the taste is more like lemony halva, the Middle East treat made from ground sesame seeds.
Among the other flavors of the 30 to try is garlic ice-cream. Kind of reminds me of the old Funny Farm near Powassan, Ontario where I spent my summers. The precursor to Marble Slab Ice-Crea, the Funny Farm used to offer flavors including cat and dog food, and all kinds of candies that you could add and grind into the final treat. Or trick your friends with.
And while we haven’t yet found a recipe for making your own hummus ice-cream, we do have the best recipe from a hummus shop in Haifa as a starter.
Maxim’s Hummus Recipe
• 3 kilograms of “small” sized dried chickpeas
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons of salt
• 2 tablespoons of lemon salt
• Half measure of tehina (Amount of tehina equals half the volume of cooked chickpeas)
• Water
• Olive oil to garnish
Take 3 kilograms of dried chickpeas and soak them overnight in cold water, along with baking soda and baking powder. The next morning clean the chickpeas in running water.
Drain the water and remove small stones. Adding cold water to cover the chickpeas and then a double amount, vigorously boil the chickpeas in a large pot. After reaching boiling point, turn down heat, and simmer for 3 hours with a lid, until the chickpeas are soft.
When done, strain the chickpeas, and set aside until cold. When cold, put into a food processor, adding raw tehina – about half the volume of the cooked chickpeas.
Add in salt, lemon salt, and enough tablespoons of cold water to achieve a thick, but smooth consistency. Spread the hummous on a plate, and garnish with olive oil, lemon and parsley because that’s how it is done. Eat with a pita, and a chunk of fresh onion and a hard-boiled egg if you want to put hair on your chest. With ful (fava beans) if you want to look like a local.
Now see how that all blends in with cream and sugar and let us know. You can start with this base a recipe for ice cream.
