Balila: Syrian Hot Chickpeas

Whole boiled chickpeas go into the bowl with the water they cooked in. Lemon, crushed garlic, cumin, salt and olive oil follow. You eat it hot and drink the broth at the bottom afterwards; in Damascus this is what a winter morning tastes like.

What is in the bowl

The recipe is short. Chickpeas, their broth, lemon, garlic, cumin, salt, olive oil. Cumin here is not an optional spice but the thing that defines the dish; a bowl without it turns into something else. Some carts keep chilli paste on the side, and more lemon for whoever asks.

Not the same as msabbaha

Both are chickpeas, and they are not the same dish. Msabbaha carries tahini, sits thick, and belongs to the mezze; you scoop it onto bread. Balila has no tahini, stays loose with its broth, and can be drunk from the bowl. The dish of the same name in Egypt is made from wheat and served milky and sweet — the Arabic sources draw that line clearly.

Where and when to find it

Balila is the second pot on the ful cart. It shares a cart with ful medames, and customers often order the two mixed: half a ladle of beans, half a ladle of chickpeas, the same lemon and cumin over both.

The carts come out between November and March. In summer the same corner is either empty or selling something else. Early morning is the moment; by midday the pot is down to its last scrapings.