[8] Food historians believe that the name Bissara originates from the Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphic word "Bisourou" (or bissouro), which means "cooked beans".

[1][2][3][4] Additional ingredients include garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, hot red pepper, cumin, and salt.

[10][11] In Egypt, bissara is eaten exclusively as a dip for bread, and is served for breakfast, as a meze, or more rarely, for lunch or dinner.

[14][9] In Egypt, bissara also includes herbs or leafy greens—particularly parsley, mint, dill, spinach, or molokhiya, though the latter is more commonly added by Egyptian expatriates in Palestine—and is eaten with bread as a dip.

Due to its frequent appearance in the Mishnah, which also includes a halakhic rule stating that a sukkah may only be abandoned during rain once the mikpah has become wet and smelly, she referred to it as the "national dish" of the ancient Israelites.