Tsi2iyeh bi Zayt

Hi everyone, long time no blog..right? ya i know but hey I'm back and have a ton of recipes i have photographed. This is a recipe for tsi2iyeh and personally i find it to taste much better than tsi2iyeh bi samneh which i have posted previously. This one involves making an emulsion with the water of the boiled chickpeas and olive oil. Surprisingly there is not a very strong olive oil taste which is why i love it so much. Even though there is a good amount of oil in this dish it doesn't taste very heavy. In my husbands family they make this every friday morning (the beginning of the weekend in Syria)

So in order to make this dish have a lot of flavor you should really use dried chickpeas and boil them yourself. I take dried chickpeas and soak them in water overnight with baking soda. In the morning i rinse them and then boil on medium-low for about 1 to 1.5 hours. Then for the last 30 minutes i add in salt. The chickpeas should be really soft but not falling apart.

Take pita bread (about 1 medium sized pita bread per person eating) and rip it into small pieces. For best results use old bread or bread that has been left out to dry overnight.

So traditionally in Syria they use a white powder called i2ily which i believe is the same thing as baking soda. We also need garlic.

In a blender add in olive oil, cumin, garlic, baking soda and the water from the boiled chickpeas. Some people use water ad it will taste fine but the water from the chickpeas gives it the best flavor. Also i do not add any salt into this mixture i only add salt to the chickpeas when they are boiling. This mixture has a tendency to get salty fast. Also i use less oil for everyday breakfast but traditionally it is made with a lot of oil (like a little less then half of the mixture is oil)

Once all th ingredients are in the blender put the blender on low and then on high so that the oil and water mix.

In a deep bowl that has the ripped bread in it add half of the boiled chickpeas and mix it into the bread.

Add in the liquid and cover the bread fully because the bread will soak up most of the liquid.

Top with the rest of the chickpeas and sprinkle with paprika and cumin and serve

Tsi2iyeh is eaten with pickles and green onions. I like eating it with pickles because it has a reaction in your mouth because of the vinegar in the pickles and the baking soda in the tsi2iyeh...mmmmm.

Written Recipe:

1 1/2 cups of dried chickpeas soaked overnight with baking soda

water to cover the chikpeas in and cook

2/3 cup of olive oil

1 1/3 cups of reserved chickpea water

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

sprinkle of cumin

2 crushed garlic cloves

3 whole day old pita breads