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 Hommos Tahini (حمص بالطحينة) is the most popular of dips in Lebanon and the Arab World!
Ingredients:
| 1 cup
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| 19 oz. can
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- Tahini (sesame seed paste)
| 1/4 cup
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| 1/2 cup
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| 1 sm. clove
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| 1/2 tsp.
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| to taste
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- Parsley, finely chopped (garnish, optional)
| 1 tbsp.
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Directions:
Step1 - Prepare pureed chick peas from dry chick peas:
Start with at least 1 lb bag (about 1/2 kg) of chick peas. Clean, wash and soak the chick peas over night adding 1/2 tsp of baking soda as a tenderizer. Drain and wash thoroughly. Cover with cold water and boil until very soft. Remove in batches from cooking water while hot using a slotted spoon directly into the food processor. Puree each batch until very smooth. To assist the pureeing process, just add a minimal amount of the cooking water. Remove the puree, a cup at a time, from the food processor and store individually in small freezer bags. Freeze for later usage. Each cup of pureed chick peas will be equivalent to a 19 oz. store bought can of garbanzo beans (but with no additives).
Step2 - Directions:
Start with one on 19 oz. can of garbanzo beans. Drain preserving the liquid. Puree the peas in a blender or food processor. Alternatively use one cup of the pureed check peas from step 1 above ,defrost if frozen, and add to blender.
Press garlic in garlic press and add to ingredients. Add alternately the Tahini mixed with the lemon juice and a bit of water (or the water that the chick peas were cooked in if available). Salt to taste.
Step3 - Serving:
Serve in a flat dish. Garnish with a small amount of olive oil and the minced parley. Serve with Arabic (pita) bread. The bread can be torn into small pieces using kitchen scissors and dried in the oven if serving as an appetizer or dip.
Serves 2-3.
 Quick Method (from the can):
In a small porcelain or stainless steel bowl put a small clove of garlic with a pinch of salt. Pound with a wood pestle until pulverized, or alternatively mince garlic with garlic press then add. Empty 13 oz. ready-to-eat Hommos can (preferably Chtaura brand from Lebanon) in the bowl. Add the juice of half a lemon and 1/4 cup of good quality Tahini (usually labeled Extra), mix thoroughly and serve immediately. If it tastes bitter, you have added too much Tahini.
 
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The Village of Kaftoun, Koura, Lebanon
Recipes 
This lovely mountain resort town is perched above the eastern end of
the beautiful Kadisha Gorge and at the foothills of the Cedars of Lebanon.
It is the brith place of Lebanon's most famous author
Khalil Gibran. It has a small museum which pays tribute to him.
Beiteddine palace was built over a period of thirty years by Emir Bechir Chehab II.
It's architecture reflects the typical oriental architecture of the 19th century Ottoman Era.
It is remarkable for its glamorous
arcades, multicolored mosaic floors, reception rooms, harems, hammams
and even by its guest house "Diyafa" where passing guests were lodged
(French poet Lamartine stayed once there).
Detail of the Sarcophagus of Ahiram, king of Byblos, seated
on a cherub throne, before an offering table, 13th century B.C (National Museum of Beirut).
Around 1200 B.C. the scribes of Byblos developed an alphabetic phonetic script, the precursor of our modern
alphabet. By 800 B.C., it had traveled to Greece, changing forever the way man communicated.
Located in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, Baalbek is an ancient city
that has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Originally
Canaanite (3rd century BC), the Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines,
and Arabs successively occupied Ba'albek and left their imprints on the
place, often modifying what existed previously.
