Tsi2iyeh bi samneh

I haven't posted in a while because i just started school and because i am a little stressed AND because i am re-organizing the whole apartment and throwing away (giving away) as much as possible. Ok so now back to the recipe. So as some of you have noticed i usually have some random memory about every type of food and this one is once again Oussama. When we first got married Oussama use to make tsi2iyeh bi samneh for us on the weekends...and it just was not good. After about the first 6 months i got the courage to tell him he needs to stop with the thick laban tsi2iyeh...turns out he was making it up and didn't really know what he was doing. This is how i make tsi2iyeh bi samneh which we eat almost every weekend (either this the tsi2iyeh bi zayt or fool). By the way i haven't made this or eaten it since i first got married and then this Ramadan i decided to make it and then i reconnected myself with it.

Ok so I think that this is a MUST for really good (anything) hummus. Buy the dried chickpeas and soak them overnight with a little baking soda. This is what the chickpea looks like dry and after it soaked over night. Once it is cooked it gets even bigger.

Dry chickpeas and the chickpeas soaking. So once they have soaked you rinse them with water and bring them to a boil (add a little baking soda once more). Once the chickpeas have boiled lower the heat and let them simmer for about an hour. Feel free to use canned chickpeas if you don't have time...i just really love the softness of after you boil them and you cant get that from canned chickpeas... but the taste is the exact same.

In a deep bowl cut up 2 pita breads, you can add more or less bread depending on what you like. If i am not serving anything else with the fatteh then i say 1 pita bread per person (unless you get the big ones then it obviously would be less)

I smash my garlic and then i add chickpeas and smash them as well. I do this because the chickpeas are hot so they cook the raw garlic taste without actually cooking the garlic.

Either in a bowl or in a blender mix yogurt, lemon juice (unless you have sour yogurt, the arabic brands are usually sour), tahini, salt, garlic, a few chickpeas (or if you have some msabaha) and the chickpea broth, enough to make it watery like milk.

Mix most of the chickpeas with the bread and then pour over the yogurt mixture.

Sprinkle with paprika and more chickpeas

Cook Samneh and toast the pine nuts. Make sure the oil is hot because it needs to make a crackling sound once it hits the yogurt. (funny story, once i was at my parents house and my dad was finishing up the tsi2iyeh and he said to Oussama and me, "listen this is the best sound in the world" and then he poured the samneh over the tsi2iyeh and.....nothing happened...isn't my dad the cutest?!?)

In Laith's words TAH DAH. Serve with arabic pickles (cucumber ones and the pink ones)

Written Recipe:

1 cup of dried and soaked and boiled chickpeas (or a can)

1/2 of lemon

3 tablespoons of tahini sauce

1 tablespoon of msabaha (hummus)

salt

2 small cloves of garlic

1 cup of yogurt (any kind, low fat, full fat or fat free)

as much chickpea broth as needed

2 pita bread ripped into small pieces

1 tablespoon of samneh (clarified butter)

as many pine nuts as desired