view from central park: tehilla r. goldberg

A taste of Israel, humusiyot-style, on 67th birthday

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Thursday is the 67th birthday of modern day Israel, our ancient homeland for millennia. When you consider the ashes that modern day Israel was built upon, and all that she has faced, birthed and developed, it’s pretty breathtaking.

Birthdays are a time of stocktaking and reflection, of pausing and examining the past year, both its mistakes and achievements. But it is also a celebratory time to revel in the opportunity and blessing of reaching another milestone.

I want to share a celebratory menu with you so that even if you are not scooping up warm creamy hummus overlooking the serene blue waters of the Mediterranean, you can still prepare a delicious Israeli meal in honor of Israel’s 67th.

The first falafel recipe I ever made was from a taxi driver in Jerusalem. As I sat in the back passenger seat of his cab, we got to talking, and he proudly passed on his mother’s heirloom falafel recipe to me.

Believe me, I whipped out a scrap of paper and as he was speaking, I jotted down every word he said. I know I have the recipe somewhere, but over the years it has gone missing. I still remember the basic idea, though, and it’s time you enjoyed it too.

These crisp, mildly spicy fried chickpea fritters are delicious on their own. But tuck them into a pillowy soft pita pocket, filled with all the trimmings, and this sandwich is a triumph.

Humusiyot — restaurants that are actually little holes in the wall, specializing in churning out warm and oily hummus plates and other hummus-related food and garnishes — dot the Israeli landscape. There is fierce competition among humusiyot, serious rivalries over whose is the best. Pinati, at the corner of King George Street in Jerusalem, as well as Bein Aza le-Berlin, literally abutting the corner of Aza and Berlin streets, were my neighborhood humusiyot. And boy did I get spoiled.

Once you taste real homemade hummus, there’s no going back to that refrigerated commercial plastic tub of what passes as hummus paste. In mere minutes and even seconds, these humusiyot put out the silkiest, creamiest, most ethereal and lemony hummus you’ve ever had.

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