Between Azza To Berlin/Bein Azza L'Berlin

There is a little restaurant on the corner of Azza and Berlin. I've been walking past it just about every day since the day I moved into this apartment. Yet until last week I had never stopped there. Kaitlin and I got back from Sinai later than we wanted to because there was a terrible traffic accident about twenty minutes from Jerusalem. We needed to eat quickly and we walked the less than a minute to eat some dinner.

The hummus was smooth. This wasn't something that I anticipated because I normally like my hummus with some chunks and the texture was off a little from what I liked. The flavor was amazing. Not quite as good as Ben Sira Hummus but the location is unbeatable for me. Literally on the walk from my apartment to anywhere except the grocery store.

I really liked their pita. It made up for the texture that I didn't like in the hummus. It was warm, fluffy and soft. Fluffier than I have ever had before, it was fantastic. Another redeeming quality to the restaurant is the falafel we ordered with our hummus was a complete shock. I thought it would be good, but there is still nothing better than freshly fried falafel and the balls they make are incredible.

I wish there were a few more than the three we got with our hummus, and maybe next time I can order a full falafel from them. It was a very good place to eat, especially if you're in my area. But if you're not down in K'riyat Sh'muel, it's not worth a long trek. If you're near by, you need to stop in.

Ben Sira Hummus

Located on Rechov Ben Sira, near Mamilla, there is a little hole in the wall hummus shop, appropriately named Ben Sira.

There aren't many seats in the restaurant, a few at the bar and a couple of tables with a few tables outside, until the weather gets bad. When you walk in you can smell the hummus and falafel and it smells great!

One of my favorite things about the hummus is that it comes to you still a little warm and the bring you warm pita, pickles, onions and tomatoes on the side. The texture is perfect. They serve a smooth, creamy hummus that has some whole chick peas on the top as well. At a very reasonable cost, you can also get a fresh side of Salat Israeli.

Not only that, but the meal also includes a few falafel balls. The most recent time I ate at Ben Sira, it took me a while to get to the falafel, so it was a little cold. The taste was still great though. Crunchy but not flakey, with a good mixture of seasoning.

You might be asking, "What is so exceptional about the hummus here?"

Well, aside from the hummus itself being very tasty and smooth, they put various toppings on the hummus. I have only ever had their Hummus Basar (Hummus with Meat). They take ground beef and brown it on a griddle. Then put it on top of the hummus adding another texture to the hummus. Off the top of my head, I know they have a mushroom one that is really good, so I've been told. Unfortunately I do not remember what some of the other ones are.

In the end, you get way too much food for just one person. Yeah, it is possible to finish off a bowl of it yourself. Or you can get the food lakakchat (to take away), and it keeps really well for a day or two. Instead, I like to bring a friend. Hummus and a salad is more than enough for a light lunch and it tastes fantastic! If you're headed towards Mamilla, headed in the direction of Ben Yehuda, or even making your way towards Yamin Moshe, Ben Sira is a good place to stop in for lunch. However, get your "Israeli attitude" ready. When it's busy, the space is cramped and you need to make it to the front to be served.

It's absolutely worth it.

B'tayavon,

Tahini (Tchinah) & Hummus Round 2

Tchinah (Tahinah)
2/3 cup of raw tchinah (Sesame Seed Paste)
2/3 cup of water
1 lemon (juiced)
4 garlic cloves (chopped)
10 parsley sprigs (chopped)
3 scallions (chopped)
salt


On Friday afternoon I made a large trip to the Shuk and bought a bunch of products for making my own Tahini. I started it from scratch. I picked up the supplies that I needed from Mister Zol the day before the rest of the fresh ingredients. Since I was also prepping to make the Hummus before hand, this time I was prepared, I turned on the stove to start cooking the Chick Peas before I set in on the Tahini.

I used a recipe found on the same blog that I discovered a recipe that I found for Hummus.

I played with the standard recipe and ended up using the following.

This was pretty easy. Basically you just mix everything together. The recipe recommends that you take your time and mix everything in slowly. Ha. I'm not that patient and I mean, it's mixing. Let's get real here. I mixed everything in and as I was adding salt, I realized that I didn't really have a lot left. This was at about 4:00 on a Friday afternoon. In Jerusalem, the city is effectively closed at that point. I thought I could make it happen anyway so I just kept going.

Once you mix all of the ingredients together you let it sit in the fridge to cool down. You just need to make sure that everything is mixed in really well together.

At this point the chick peas were about done. Let me just say that it works really well when you actually use baking soda and cook the peas in boiling water on the stove. That worked really, really well.




















Hummus
2 cups of chick-peas
1 cup of freshly made tachina
2 lemons (freshly squeezed)
1 garlic clove
garlic powder
3 teaspoons of cumin
1/2 bunch of parsley (chopped)
olive oil
salt


This time worked so much better than the last time I tried to make Hummus. I ran into a small problem though. You see, I needed a lot more salt than I thought I would. So the final product is a little under-salted. I will also note that the chick peas dry up just about any liquid you put in with them. If you try to make this following this recipe, make sure to add the cooking water back to the mixture until you get a rather loose texture. It should seem to be way too moist. I ended up also needing to keep adding olive oil to the mixture as it sits in the fridge. I love the fact that I keep practicing with this recipe. Some time soon I should have it very close to perfect. Just make sure to add more salt and oil than I was planning.

Hummus: Round 1

The next food I decided to tackle was hummus. The recipe that I used I found searching online. I was directed to a site called Hummus Blog

My issue was that I read the recipe over a week before I meant to make it so I didn't really remember the details when I started to get everything ready. In the end, I changed the recipe provided a little bit.

1 cup - Dried Chickpeas
Rinse three times in water
Let soak overnight

In the morning, rinse again and soak for another 8 hours. The chick peas will swell back to a normal size.
Cook the chickpeas until they are soft.

2/3 cup - Tahini
1/2 - Juiced Lemon
2 tsp - Salt
1 tsp - Cumin
1 tsp - Garlic Salt
1/2 bunch - Italian Parsley, Chopped
3 TBSP - Olive Oil

With a food processor, blend the chickpeas to a pulp.
Add Tahini and all other ingredients and continue to blend.
Blend into a fine pulp.

I made a few mistakes on this one. We don't have gas in our apartment now so I cooked the chickpeas in the microwave. They were not cooked as well as possible. I also didn't know that we were out of baking soda. The consistency was a little bit off as it was a little grainy. Again I will be doing some of this slightly different. Look for Hummus: Round 2 to come when I try it again when we have gas.

B'tay'avon!