Halabessa is an Egyptian vegan, spicy, and cumin-spiked chickpea soup that will put your taste buds on fire. 

What is Halabessa

Halabessa is a full-fledged thrifty street food. In the bustling streets of Cairo, during bone-chilling winter, you’ll often find street vendors selling Halabessa (chickpea soup), which is a widely popular body and soul warmer.

Street vendors ladle the Halabessa into disposable cups that come with half a lemon and a dash of Shatta, which means red pepper flakes.

The warmth that Halabessa radiates starts from its sunset deep orange hue and extends to its unapologetic spicy flavor and manifests itself in the heat that your hands and belly enjoy once you grab the cup and take your first sip.  

In one of her riveting food articles, Ann Maloeny from the Washington Post wrote, “Our brains make a connection between warm feelings and actual physical warmth.” I can’t agree more!

Making Halabessa requires no advanced cooking skills. On the contrary, if you can crack an egg, then you can definitely make Halabessa. This is how easy and straight forward the recipe is. Additionally, the ingredients are available worldwide. 

Making Halabessa requires some planning, as the chickpeas have to be soaked one night in advance for two reasons – one, they need to be softened before they boil, and two, pre-soaking helps to make the beans more digestible. 

The second day when the chickpeas are all puffed, we drain the water and rinse the chickpeas with running tap water.  

To make the Halabessa of this Egyptian chickpeas soup, we fill a large pot with water, add a couple of bay leaves. I personally like to add a celery rib to get that refreshing flavor hint, also to magnify the detoxing impact of the soup.

The chickpeas are left to cook in the boiling liquid along with the aromatics until it totally softenes. In the meantime, we blend in a small food processor, the chickpeas, 1 onion, 1 tomato, a spoonful of tomato paste and several cloves of garlic (according to your preference) seasoning and the spices along with 1/4 cup of chickpea boiling water pan. 

When we have a lump-free sauce, we run it through a sieve and incorporate it to the chickpea pan and let the soup simmer for 20-30 minutes or until the chickpeas become tender and buttery. Serve the chickpea in tall transparent glasses, season with lemon juice, and serve with extra lemon wedges and red pepper flakes or Aleppo pepper. 

For extra depth of flavor, we can prior to blending the veggies, roast them first with the spices and tomato paste in a preheated oven for 20 minutes, until they wilt and get charred. You can find this set-by-step recipe in this video. 

Scroll down to learn all the detailed steps and accurate ingredients of the recipe. 

The Story of Halabessa 

Halabessa (aka hummus Al Sham) is an austere vegan and spicy chickpea soup that has amazed a raving crowd over the years. 

During the three-day rigorous vegan fast of Jonah, Copts (Egyptian Christian) abstain from food and drinks between midnight and sunset. The tradition goes that to break the fast, fairly austere vegan food is served. No meat and no diary products are allowed on these three days. 

Jonah’s fast symbolizes the three days that Prophet Jonah spent inside the belly of the Great Fish and the subsequent fast as repentance of the Ninevites at the warning message of the prophet Jonah according to the bible.

Back to my childhood times in Alexandria, I vividly remember my mom serving Halabessa, aka Humos Alsham, a vegan traditional Egyptian soup of chickpeas to break our fast with.

This same cumin-spiked chickpea broth is considered a typical Egyptian winter street food.  The boiling hot broth along with the toasted dry pepper flakes are enough to warm up a weary soul on a bleak winter night.

Halabessa Heat 

You are in full control of the heat level in this recipe, so use the heat ingredients that can deliver to your expectations.

Shishito pepper and red pepper flakes are great options of heat sources in this recipe. Alternatively, harissa and tabasco sauce are also non-traditional alternatives.

Personally speaking, I appreciate the smokey note of Aleppo pepper, in addition to its innate moderate heat level.

Health Benefits 

This soup is best made from scratch with dry chickpeas and NOT the canned ones. Soaking the chickpeas in cold water overnight is a must, before boiling the chickpeas in the vegetables broth. 

According to health.com, “Chickpeas are high in fiber, protein, and healthy fats. Potential benefits of chickpeas include helping control blood sugar, manage weight, and support heart and gut health.”

For More Chickpea Recipes Check:

• One Pot Koshari 

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• All product recommendations are independent and based on testing.

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Halabessa (Egyptian Chickpeas Soup): حلبسة 

 

Makes 4-6 servings 

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups dry chickpea
• 6 cups hot water 
• 1 cube organic vegetable bouillon, organic, optional 
• 1 quartered tomato
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed  
• 1 shishito pepper, or 1 teaspoon red pepper flake or Aleppo pepper 
• 1 shallot or a small onion 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin 
• 1 teaspoon coriander 
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika 
• Salt and pepper, to taste 

To serve 

• Lime or lemon wedges
• Red pepper flakes 

DIRECTIONS

1. Soak the dry chickpeas in cold water overnight. The second day, drain, rinse, and set aside.
2. Make the soup. Add six cups of water to a heavy bottom large pan, add the bouillon and stir until the bouillon is totally dissolved, this step is optional. Toss in the crushed garlic, grated tomatoes, cumin, and black pepper. Bring the broth to a gentle simmer for five minutes. Add the chickpeas and let the soup simmer further until the chickpeas are almost cooked through. Toss in the tomato paste, and stir to dilute it in the broth. Add the lemon, salt and pepper and adjust the seasoning. When the chickpeas are cooked through, turn off the heat.  
3. Serve the Halabessa hot in tall glasses with extra wedges of lemon or lime and dry pepper flakes or tabasco sauce. 

NOTES 

• This soup is best made from scratch with dry chickpeas and NOT the canned ones.  Soaking the chickpeas in cold water overnight is a must, before boiling the chickpeas in the broth. 
• Downplay the heat by removing the shishito pepper from the ingredients.