Roasted beetroot hummus

I wasn't always a fan of beetroot. I remember my sister used to love the McAussie burger which stared at McDonalds for a period of time. There was beetroot in the burger and I remember that I absolutely detested the taste of it. 

I can't recall at which point I changed my mind about beetroot, but I'm glad I decided to give it another go because I really love it. For a long time I just enjoyed canned beetroot in sandwiches and what not, but in recent times I've discovered how good it is raw or roasted. 

I went out and bought myself two medium sized beetroots the other week and I figured I should use them before they go old and rotten. I came across a super yummy looking recipe for beetroot dip. Unfortunately for me, all the beetroot dips in the super market are not vegan friendly so I thought this would be a good something new for today. 

Unfortunately for me, again, the recipe called for 4 large beets to be roasted and to my disappointment when I roasted my two thinking that I could just halve the recipe, the chucks of beetroot actually shrunk so much that I didn't even have enough to make one serving. Here's where improvisation swoops in and saves the day!

Luckily for me, I had also found another recipe for beetroot hummus. It was basically the same as the other beet dip, except with chickpeas added. 

I really liked the flavours from the first recipe, so I decided to stick with this, and just add in canned chickpeas so that I had enough to put in a bowl and plate up :P

So here you go, my recipe for beetroot hummus:


Roasted Beetroot Hummus

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 2 cups raw beetroot cut into chunks / when roasted makes about 1 cup
• 1 can of chickpeas drained and rinsed
• 1Tbsp cold pressed extra virgin olive oil or more for desired consistency
• 1 clove fresh garlic
•  2 tsp finely chopped serrano chilli (add gradually to taste - you might need less depending on the chilli) - I used 1 teaspoon of ground cayenne pepper because I wanted it hot.
• 1/2 tsp roasted cumin seeds
• 1/2 roasted coriander seeds
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped finely
• 1 tsp Celtic sea salt or more to taste
• 1 1/2 tsps fresh lemon juice to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200 C / 400 F.
2. Toss beets in a little bit of cold pressed olive oil and a pinch of Celtic sea salt and bake for about an hour or until tender. Check them periodically to make sure they don't burn.
3. Throw the beets into the food processor with all the cumin, coriander, salt, the garlic, half the chilli and the canned chickpeas. Drizzle in half the olive oil and pulse until well combined.
4. Add in the rest of the olive oil gradually to reach your desired consistency.
5. Now taste and adjust the quantities of chilli, and salt. This will depend on the heat of your chilli.
6. Stir through chopped cilantro and serve with pita breads, ciabatta or chips. I served mine with homemade chickpea crackers. Super yum!

Zucchini fritters and hummus

Ok, so here's a mission for you if you choose to accept: find me one vegan who does not like hummus. Go. Try it. I bet you won't find a single one. 

I love hummus like you would not believe. There are so many different variations - garlic, sweet potato, white bean...and the list goes on and on and I never want that list to end because I'm crazy about the stuff. For all of those who don't know what hummus is, it's a Middle Eastern dip/spread made with chickpeas, tahini (sesame paste), olive oil and lemon in its most simplest form (more info here).

Today I was rushed for time to make some dinner for myself so I decided to pull out my Veganomicon cook book and whip up something from there. I found a recipe for zucchini fritters, and seeing as I have never made these before I made this my 'something new' for the day. I'm a bit of a fry-o-phobe, but because I was short on time, I cooked these in oil in a shallow pan. They were yummy and crispy and best of all, they tasted even more delicious topped with my homemade hummus. I used the hummus recipe from the Veganomicon book too. 

Yes, yes, the food was great, but what made my meal even better was that my brother loved them too! My brother is 10 years younger than me and his taste is that of any 11 year old. He likes junk food. The fattier, saltier and sweeter it is the better. It surprises me every time he actually likes any of my vegan food, and today was no different. I've got him hooked onto hummus now too. Even though my jar of hummus will run out quicker, I don't really mind because I just love the fact that my brother is trying new things too...and liking it :)

P.s. I don't post up the recipes from the book because I don't want to get done in for copyright issues, but if anyone would like to try one of the recipes seen on my blog, don't hesitate to leave a comment and I will get back to you :)

My jar of hummus. It will be gone by tomorrow.