The whole name of this recipe is Hot Buttered Hummus with Basturma and Tomato. There are two reasons I needed to make this recipe as soon as I saw it in Spice, by Ana Sortun. The first reason is that I have basturma in my fridge, and was excited to finally use it. Secondly, maybe 20 or more years ago, I was at a friend’s and someone brought a hummus topped with browned butter and it was magnificent. This recipe is somewhat different, but I still wanted to make it!

It turns out that this recipe can be quite involved, rolling chick pea purée into balls, shoving pieces of butter inside, flattening the balls, wrapping with basturma and baking. That’s just too fancy for my style. Fortunately Ms. Sortun offers another alternative, which is similar to offering a bowl of hummus. But, hummus on crack!

I’ve never before made hummus from scratch, using dried chick peas. I just find the canned varieties so useful. But I thought this was a good opportunity to do just that.

If you’re not familiar with basturma (bastirma, pastirma), it’s a dry-cured meat, meaning that rather than soaking in brine, it is rubbed with salt and dry spices, including fenugreek, chilies, and garlic. And, it’s good.

According to Chef Sortun: “Armenians, Turks, Lebanese and other eastern Mediterranean people eat basturma in paper thin slices, much like prosciutto or bresaola.”

Hot Buttered Hummus with Basturma and Tomato
Adapted somewhat

2 cups chickpeas, soaked overnight
1 stick butter (4 ounces), cut into small pieces
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 pound or 16 slices basturma
2 tablespoons browned butter for garnish
2 plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, finely chopped
8 pitted, dry-cured black olives
1 scallion, 1 inch green trimmed from the top, washed, finely chopped
Torn pieces of crusty French bread or pita bread

In a medium saucepan, cover the chickpeas in about 8 cups of fresh water. Bring them to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer the chickpeas for at least 25 minutes, until very tender.

Drain the chickpeas and reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooking liquid.

Before the chickpeas cool down, puree them in a food processor, with the stick of butter, 1/2 cup of olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, reserved cooking liquid, cumin, and salt and pepper, until very smooth and creamy. It may take 3 to 4 minutes, depending on how sharp you blades are.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the hummus in a small round casserole or baking dish. Using a rubber spatula, spread it in a smooth, even layer. Top the casserole with the slices of basturma in a round pinwheel pattern, laying each slice from the center to the edge. Each center slice may overlap a bit.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes, until warm.

Brown the butter in a small saucepan, and as soon as the hummus is out of the oven, pour it on top.

Sprinkle the top with chopped tomatoes, olives, and scallions.

Serve with your choice of bread. I used pita.

What a hummus! It did end up really creamy and tasty. And the browned butter made it exceptional.