Making hummus is easy AF and extra delicious especially when it is roasted cauliflower hummus.
If you are reading this and you read last week's recipe , I bet you are thinking, f--k she's healthy now. Ref'inglax...I am not so much healthy as I am broke from the holidays and really just trying out things I often buy but can easily make at home. All things, until recently, I didn't realize were so damn easy to make at home. Hummus is def one of those things.
First things first. Tahini the THE SHIT.
Tahini is sesame paste. That's it. And while you can be all cool and make your own, you can also buy from Traders Joe's, and I would imagine a lot of grocery stores. It is a major ingredient in middle eastern cooking, and has this tangy but creamy flavor that is really something else, like I can't believe I have been cooking/eating for 41 years and JUST tried this for the first time. Finally, you can't make good hummus without tahini in my opinion so get some.
Making hummus is simple. Making roasted cauliflower hummus is simple delicious.
Basically hummus is chickpeas (garbanzo beans), tahini, olive oil and some kind of acid - mainly lemon juice (but def also lime). Throw everything into a food processor (pretty much anyways) and puree into the dip you know and love...and usually buy at the store, I bet. What is awesome about making from scratch (besides a cost savings) is that you make it so interesting by adding different ingredients. It is like getting a food surprise every time you make it.
Roasting cauliflower is really the best way to go when wanting to eat cauliflower ever. It softens it ever so slightly and really deepens the flavor. It purees so nicely that it was the perfect addition to plain hummus.
Last thing. I always add one thing to hummus. And you should too.
That thing would be smoked paprika. No matter what flavor profile I am making, I always throw in a little smoked paprika and sprinkle on top. You should too.
Roasted cauliflower hummus
Ingredients
- 1 head of cauliflower cut into florets (alternatively you could use a bag of cauliflower florets)
- one cup of chickpeas you can cook your own if you are being ALL IN with made from scratch - I am not, and don't even know how to cook them from scratch, tho I am sure it isn't too hard, so you decide
- ¼ cup tahini
- 3 tablespoons of good olive oil
- One clove of garlic
- juice and zest of one whole lemon and I mean squeeze the hell out of it to get ALL of it
- two tablespoons of cold water
- ¼ teaspoon of cumin
- ½ teaspoon of smoked paprika plus extra for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 400. Place cauliflower florets on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and salt. Roast in oven for about 25-30 minutes. They should be turning golden brown on top and edges. cool to lukewarm or room temperature.
- Finely chop the florets and place ¾ of them in a food processor along with the chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice (not the zest), cold water, cumin and ½ teaspoon of smoked paprika. Puree until smooth and creamy. season with salt to taste and puree until blended.
- Spoon into serving bowl and chill in fridge for an hour or longer. Top with a drizzle of olive oil, the remaining chopped cauliflower, a sprinkle of smoked paprika and a little of the lemon zest. Serve with your fave raw veggies and crackers or pita chips.
Notes
Oded Arbel says
Cooling the hummus in the fridge before eating is blasphemy - the one good reason to make hummus at home is that you can eat it fresh and warm like when you get it at a good hummus restaurant.
That being said, I may be biased because I live in Israel and have at least three or four good hummus restaurants in every town, and one just down the street from work, so I have that to compare my home made hummus with.
Also, the way we serve hummus here is with fresh pitas (you tear parts by hand and use this to collect some hummus and eat everything together ), or with fresh cut onions: https://youtu.be/dlxzM8LlpVk