Hummus Beiruti

Hummus Beiruti is the Beirut-style take on Lebanon's national dip — a livelier, more heavily seasoned cousin of the smooth classic. The base is familiar: chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon juice and garlic. What sets the Beiruti version apart is its bold finish. Cooks fold in extra garlic and a generous shower of chopped fresh parsley, brighten it with more lemon, and warm it with ground cumin and sometimes a kick of green chilli.

The texture is deliberately looser and a little more rustic than a glass-smooth hummus, and the plate is dressed with whole chickpeas, a pool of olive oil and a dusting of paprika or cumin. The effect is fresher and greener on the palate — herbaceous, garlicky and citrus-sharp — which is exactly why Beirut's hummus houses are so fiercely loved.

Hummus itself is an ancient Levantine dish, and the debate over its precise origins runs across Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and beyond. The Beiruti style is Lebanon's own regional stamp on it, named for the capital and refined in the busy hummus and fatteh houses of Beirut, where breakfast is often a warm bowl of chickpeas eaten with pillowy flatbread.

The extra garlic, parsley, cumin and chilli reflect a city palate that likes its food punchy and aromatic, and the style has since travelled onto menus across the Lebanese diaspora. Where a plain hummus is a canvas, Hummus Beiruti is the version turned up to full volume — a small statement of Beiruti identity in a bowl.

Compare it with classic Hummus and crisp Falafel, or explore more traditional food of Lebanon.