Preserved Lemon Hummus with Baharat Spiced Lamb & Radish Salad

Serves 4 as a main, 6 as an appetizer.

Add this composed platter of creamy hummus topped with spiced lamb and a bright, crunchy radish salad to your next buffet. Or, do as we do and pair it with a leafy green or rice salad and call it a meal. You’ll want to serve plenty of warm pita or hearty crackers alongside, for scooping up every delicious bite.

Use canned chickpeas if you’re in a hurry but home-cooked chickpeas are the secret to smooth, creamy hummus. You have to plan ahead and soak the beans overnight — even after soaking, chickpeas can take a long time to cook but we’ve included a great tip for shortening the cooking in the “how-to” note below.

Looking for preserved lemons? Try our DIY kit for delicious, spiced lemons. Takes at least 3 weeks to be fully ready for use.

For the hummus:
1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained (OR, 1½ cups home cooked chickpeas)
1 cup tahini
3 tablespoons chopped preserved lemon (rind only)
3-4 tablespoons lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, minced
Cold water, as needed
Salt, to taste

For the spiced lamb:
1 small onion, diced
2 tablespoons butter or ghee
1 pound ground lamb (or ground beef), broken into 2-inch chunks
2½ teaspoons Bazaar Baharat
¾ teaspoon salt

For the radish salad:
8 radishes, cut into matchsticks (about ½ cup)
¼ cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped preserved lemon (rind only)
1½ tablespoons white wine vinegar

Make the hummus  Put the chickpeas into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal chopping blade. Pulse several times until the chickpeas are broken down into small chunks and are getting pasty. Stop the processor, scrape down the sides, and add the tahini, preserved lemon, lemon juice, and garlic. (Don’t add any salt just yet, preserved lemons are very salty.) Process until smooth, about 5 minutes. Add the cold water to the hummus a tablespoon at a time until the texture is loose but not quite pourable, and the hummus is very smooth and creamy.

Taste the hummus and add more lemon juice and salt if needed. Keep the hummus at room temperature until you’re ready to serve. If making the hummus ahead of time, take it out of the fridge for an hour or two before serving.

Cook the lamb  Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion to the pan with the ghee or butter. Sauté until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes, then push all the onions to one corner of the pan.

Raise the heat to high. Add the chunks of ground meat one by one to the center of the skillet, leaving space between them. Sprinkle the meat with the Bazaar Baharat and salt. Do not stir but allow the meat to sear until the sizzling sounds start to quiet down, 5–8 minutes. Toss the meat and onions together in the pan without breaking up the larger chunks of meat. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook the meat and onions until they have nicely browned edges, about 15 minutes total. Remove the pan from the heat, set aside and keep warm.

Make the salad  Put the radish, parsley, preserved lemon, and vinegar into a mixing bowl. Toss to combine.

Assemble the dish  Spoon the hummus onto a warmed platter. Make a hollow in the center of the hummus with a spoon, fill it with the seared meat, and top with the radish salad. Or, plate four individual servings on shallow soup or pasta bowls, using the same order of assembly.

How To: Cook Dried Chickpeas for Hummus

We learned this trick from Yottam Ottolenghi’s and Sami Tamimi’s wonderful book, Jerusalem. It speeds up the cook time and ensures that the beans are soft all the way through for perfect blending. One more tip to save time: You can freeze pre-soaked beans. Do the overnight soak with more beans than you need for one batch of hummus and freeze the excess. 

1 cup dried chickpeas
½ tsp baking soda

Soak the chickpeas overnight in plenty of water. Drain the chickpeas and add them to a large pot with at least 6 cups of cold water and the baking soda. Bring the chickpeas to a boil then simmer on low for 20-40 minutes until they are completely soft, right on the verge of mushy. The cooking time will vary based on how large and how old your dried chickpeas are, so make sure to test them often. Drain the chickpeas.