Beet Hummus Recipe
Roast Beets First
Preheat oven to 400 degree. Cut beetroot from greens leaving about an inch of stem with the beets. Place 1 pound (or more) of washed beets in a roasting pan with about 1/2 inch of water and cover tightly with foil. Roast until done. Most medium sized beets are ready 60 minutes, large beets take about an hour and half. Let beets cool. Slip off beet skins while running under cold water (helps minimize staining hands red. (You may want to wear gloves). You can also roast by tightly wrapping each beet in foil and placing on oven rack.
Add to Food Processor:
- 1 to 2 lbs quartered cooked beets
- 1-2 large garlic clove, chopped
- 5 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I used lime juice once by mistake and that was good too)
- 1/4 cup of tahini (sesame paste)
- 2-3 teaspoons cumin
- salt and pepper, a little
Run processor until smooth. Adjust lemon juice, tahini, cumin, salt and pepper to your taste.
I usually use about 2 bounds of beets, but I don't increase the rest of the ingredients much or at all, and it still tastes really good.
Each pound of beets will make about 2 cups of hummus. Freeze what you won't eat within a week in small containers.
Eggplant Hummus (aka Baba Ganoush)
Poke several japanese or globe eggplant several times with a fork (about 2 pounds raw). If the globe eggplant are large, cut them lenthwise in half first. Roast on cookie sheet at 400 degrees about 40 minutes until they collapse insides are very soft. You cannot overcook eggplant, but if you undercook it, you won't be able to mash it with a fork. You can also roast the eggplant on the grill.
Scrape cooked and soft eggplant into food processor. Add the following ingredients and pulse until it is the consistency you like.
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 Tablespoons lemon juice (or lime, which I used last time)
1/4 to 1/2 cup tahini
1 - 1.25 teaspoons coarse salt (use half if you use regular salt)
1/8 -1/4 teaspoon chili powder (optional)
1/2 -1 teaspoon cumin (optional)
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
regular pepper if not using cayenne
1 T olive oil (or more for consistency) (I did not use any last time)
flat leaf parsley, chopped
Use any combinations of the chili powder, cumin, and cayenne that appeals to you. Most baba ganoush recipes garnish with parsley, but I like to put the parsley right in the mix, although if freezing, I wonder if it is better to leave out the parsley. Update: I froze it with parsley and it was fine when it defrosted.
Eat within 3 days or so, or freeze some for later.
